


I will wait

by Shellhead616



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fanart, Historical Inaccuracy, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Identity Porn, Jealous Steve, M/M, Minor Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton, Minor Violence, Pining, Prince Tony Stark, Romance, Scientific Inaccuracy, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, slight - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-07 22:22:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 34,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21465472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shellhead616/pseuds/Shellhead616
Summary: Prince Stark was to marry a Prince he never met, for money he never wanted, to reign over a realm his father didn’t care for. But the Prince did care for his people. So he ran away, accidentally joined a group of misfits calling themselves the “Avengers”, with their fierce leader “The Captain".  Although, when he discovers the secret the Captain has been keeping, everything changes.Featuring late night Avengers bonfires, Clint is a Bard so there’s romantic dancing and singing, Cap in medieval armour (there's Art!) and Super(Knight)family.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 31
Kudos: 452
Collections: 2019 Captain America/Iron Man Big Bang





	I will wait

**Author's Note:**

> I am so grateful for my two wonderful artists who blessed this work with their beautiful pieces. Kota's armour is to die for and the horse... seriously the horse is amazing. And Cachette's warm colours give the artwork a lovely atmosphere, it's everything I could hope for. Give them some love on tumblr: @acachette and @unstable-river and on AO3 @cachette and @KotaRiverRoad
> 
> Big love to my beta Nonnie ( AnonWrites on AO3), who helped me with eeeeeverything, which was a lot. Also thanks to partialtotheperiwinkleblue on tumblr for giving me her first impression and helping me understand my own story better. 
> 
> Last but not least thanks to the mods for making this big bang work, for introducing me to these amazing people and for giving me the motivation to write my first ever fic!

#  1\. 

“Prince Stark, you know why this is your duty and I care not for you to argue with me on this matter,'' the king shouted across the throne room. The words hit Tony like a ton of rocks. They were almost alone in the too big throne room, his father having dismissed all of their guards except for their closest manservant, Jarvis. This was the fight for his life, Tony realised. Yes, he was scared of his father, but if he loses this argument his life would be all played out. No more arguing, no more freedom, no more deciding who he should marry and what he wants to do with his life. In some way he always knew he would not have as free a life as most of the peasants in their realm. He had a different life.

“Father, I did not choose this life,'' he argued, feeling too far away. He always felt too far away from everything whenever he was with his father, that he could never reach him, never please him. He looked over to his mother for help but she lost the spark in her eyes years ago. A lifeless figure stared back at him. Sometimes he wondered what broke his mother, what tortured her so much that she stopped caring, stopped smiling, stopped singing. He feared the answer was standing in front of him.

“Son,” King Stark spat at him, like the word was a disease, “this life chose you. The weapons factory is not working out. For your people, you have to accept the marriage and save this realm from an inescapable financial ruin!”

On some level Tony knew the King was right. He should care about his people, and he did! He really did, but not enough to throw away his whole life for them. Besides that, he had a better idea to save the kingdom.

“You know I have ideas to save this-” but his father interrupted him once again. 

“If you start talking about your blasphemous electricity idiocy again, I will have you thrown in the dungeon for treason, Prince.”

Yet Tony couldn’t stop thinking about his so called ‘idiocy’. His father was convinced that when those lightning bolts hit the chapel it meant that God was teaching the sinners a lesson and that something was going wrong. The prince, however, knew it wasn’t god but great energy coming down from above, hitting the highest building. If only he could create something to capture this great energy, he would be able to achieve so much. The king, of course, thought that was blasphemy, but someday he knew that he will prove him wrong. Day in and day out, he worked in the cellar on a machine that would not only do exactly that but also save the kingdom from complete financial ruin.

“Father, King Stark, if your highness would listen to me for-” he tried to say but was interrupted when the King stood up and belted through the room, so loud that both Tony and Jarvis shrunk at the volume. 

“ENOUGH.”

Four guards came bursting through the doors with their weapons drawn, ready to fight. With a defeated sigh King Stark turned to them and said, “Throw him in the dungeon overnight. That will teach him not to question my orders again!”

A defeated Tony slumped down and let the guards take him away. Idly, he wondered if other Princes were treated like this. Probably not. It was because he didn’t learn his lesson and kept questioning his father,  _ again _ , that he is in this mess. He wanted to be a good son so badly. He didn’t want to be a disappointment to the king. However something in him knew that electricity would be something to change the world for the better. If only his father would believe in him for a fragment of a moment.

When the guards threw him in the dungeon cell like they did countless times before, one of them snarled: “I suggest you pray, or your soul will forever be in hell. If you aren’t already doomed.” They closed the door while laughing and got back to their guard places.

“I suggest you stick your swords up where no one can see it,'' Tony muttered, quiet enough that they won’t hear him.

Tony was in tatters. Of course he believed in god. Everyone did. It's just, he firmly believed that the lightning was a gift, rather than punishment, bringing them the energy they needed.

Like he always did when he was thrown down here, Tony stared at the walls and imagined a world where he was free to do whatever he wanted. He thought of machines and people working together. Transporting people closer, faster than horses could ever do. Communicating faster, living prosperously without arranged marriages…

Suddenly he heard someone walking down the heavy staircase. Instantly, the prince knew it was Jarvis, recognizing the heavy but considerate thumping of feet. Sometimes Jarvis would visit him down here, with sad eyes and hushed voice telling Tony he deserved better. Sometimes he would bring him something to eat, other times just told him stories, so the Prince wouldn’t get lost in his own head.

Smiling he stood up and was about to greet his visitor when he saw Jarvis’ face. His manservant, nurse and  _ friend _ was even paler than usual. Usually his eyes were full of sadness but now Tony only found grief and defeat. However he was smiling, a small smile of hope. To say Tony was confused was an understatement. “Jarvis? Are you okay?”

“You are going to be okay, Prince.” Oh maybe they were under surveillance and couldn’t talk freely. “The king wanted me to bring you this.” Jarvis held out his hands to reveal the bible. It was the biggest version of the bible he ever saw. Of course, his father would want him to study the words of god to bring him even more misery when he was already at his lowest. Nevertheless he took the bible only to find out the book was really, really heavy. Tony chuckled to himself. “I’m not really in the mood for reading, Jarvis.”

The older man just watched him with sad, tired eyes. “Take care of yourself, Tony,'' he whispered. Jarvis never called him Tony. “I love you, I hope you know that.”

The Prince shook his head. “Yes of course, I love you too Jarvis. What has gotten into you?” What was with all the sentiment? He knew after his marriage his life would be hard and awful, but knowing he had Jarvis to get him through that made everything almost bearable.

“Don’t waste your life, Tony. I know you’re going to do so great. Read it, my son”, and Jarvis said son with so much emotion, so different from King Stark, that Tony almost believed him. “Read it and you’ll understand how much I love you.”

“But-” he began. The bible? He doesn’t need to be reminded that God doesn’t love him, that he left him behind with nothing. “Jarvis, I don’t understand,” he pleaded.

“Be ready,” Jarvis said and then left Tony alone in his confusion. He stared down at the bible in his hands. It caused him so much pain over the years, what did Jarvis mean? He sighed and threw the book into a corner of the cell. It opened and made an almost metallic sound when it hit the ground. Baffled Tony leaped towards it and found that the pages of the bible were holed out, containing a little bag. Widening his eyes Tony thought about how it was blasphemy to hole out the bible like that, but he quickly caught himself. This wasn’t what he really thought, he was just conditioned to think that way. Looking around he opened up the bag. In it were some of his metal tools along with flints, tinder, sponge, herbs and black powder wrapped in linen. Suddenly he knew what he had to do and all of Jarvis words made sense. He would miss him like hell but this was important.

Quickly he looked over his shoulders to make sure he was undisturbed before going to work. He tore the linen apart, stuffed the some of the herbs along with the gunpowder and sealed it with a string. He knotted the string around his belt. He finished the others quickly but efficiently until he had a few of them made.

One special bomb he held in his hands. He made quick work of the flint and rolled the bomb towards the guards. He went towards the opposite side of the cell and with his last cloth of linen he covered his nose and mouth. The burning herbs should sent the guards sleeping real quick, he thought. This was crazy, he added as an afterthought! This were his guards, they could belong to him in the future, and here he was acting like an outlaw!

Right now was probably a horrible time for panic. He closed his eyes and willed his heart to a normal steady beat.

After some time he called out for the guards but there was no answer. Perfect, he thought, now comes the real tricky part. He stuck his arms through the bars and with the two iron-sticks made quick work of the lock. 

Quietly he went into the corridor only to stop in front of the unconscious guards. Here goes nothing, he thought and quickly pulled the guards armour over his own. The swords weren't as well balanced as his own, but there won’t be any time to get them. 

He will miss Rhodey , his childhood friend in the castle. He almost feels bad for leaving without saying goodbye, but he knows his friend will understand. He really can’t make him commit treason if he got caught helping him escape.

Luckily he knows the guards pathways by heart, had been walking them together with Rhodey for years, so he can easily avoid running into more trouble.

Heading straight to the stables, he hopes the stableboys are already gone when he arrives there. He has absolutely no plan and no idea what he was going to do if not. First things first, he needed to escape the castle to even get to the stables. When he gets to the back entrance he spots Jarvis talking to the guards. He stopped and tried to make himself noticeable. Once Jarvis saw him the older man suddenly dropped down moaning loudly in pain. The guards move towards him, their back to Tony who then used his chance to quietly slip past the entrance towards the stables. When he turns at the last moment, he sees Jarvis standing up, thanking the guards and secretly winking at him. Heavens, he’s going to miss Jarvis so much.

When he arrives at the stables, he finds his horse Yinsen ready to go with a saddlebag on each side. He sends a quick prayer to god, wishing Jarvis all the best while also wondering what he ever did to deserve him. He swings himself upon the horse and bolts right out of the big swinging doors, towards the front gate of the castle. From somewhere far away he heard screaming, very probably caused by a soldier seeing him. Silently cursing to himself he fumbled around for his flint and lit a bomb from his belt, throwing it as far as he could.

As it went off, the soldiers from the front gate went running towards the sound.  _ Idiots _ , he thought to himself. Upon almost reaching the gate he snatched a torch from the stonewall and willed his horse to go even faster.

Eventually he slipped through the gate and thanked his god that the soldiers were so dumb that they were still looking for the cause of the crashing sound.

They would be doomed if anyone really tried to sneak into the castle… Whatever, not his problem anymore. At least not for a long while.

When he finally reaches the woods, his thoughts were catching up to him. He didn’t actually have a plan. Being the action first, plan later type of guy saved him in some situations but there were plenty of times the consequences caught up with him later. The forest was dense and it was pitch black except for his torch that sent fiery lights dancing through the leaves.

He had to find a safe spot to gather his thoughts, but he can’t afford to stop. He knew he had to keep going so that the guards won’t find him when they come looking for him in the morning. Walk a few hours then sleep a few, before walking again. That’s his plan for now.

#  2\. 

“No father, please don’t leave. I can be good! No!-” Tony bolts up suddenly from his sleep. Where is he? What’s happening?

The sun is gleaming over the trees, the light barely hitting the ground. His torch had long gone cold and his bones felt heavy from sleeping on the ground. Every time he had tried to sleep, he was quick to wake from yet another nightmare involving his father. He remembers now why he wasn't waking up in his warm, comfortable bed with breakfast at his bedside table. If he had stayed, he wouldn’t have those things anyway because of the dungeon but sleeping in the woods without a tent or blankets was a whole other thing. He was lucky that Jarvis packed him a spare change of nondescript clothes, so he wouldn’t be caught by some bounty hunter right away. The Stark armour, glistening in the morning sun, hung at the side of Yinsen, who was grazing nearby.

Closing his eyes, he thought to himself about whether he can actually manage to finish his machine. He can’t come home after failing to, can’t go back crawling to the castle begging his father for forgiveness. He would spend eternity in the dungeon.

Perhaps becoming a blacksmith would be a good idea. He could search for the nearest town, try helping out the local blacksmith since he was good with metal and fire, and in his free time he could work at his own project, the reactor.

His uncle, Sir Stane, was always rather fond of his projects, even encouraging him with the reactor he wants to build. Sadly his uncle was always thinking about ways of turning his inventions into weapons. At first he didn't mind, mostly because he didn't really understand the far-reaching consequences. After all, his uncle at least tried something to prevent the kingdom from financial ruin. Soon he discovered the weapons industry wasn't as ludicrous anymore, especially after the big peace truce with Brooklynos. While his uncle didn't want to give it up and was still working at making everything a weapon, he figured he needed a different approach. His solution: the Reactor. 

Sighing he went over to the little creek and started scrubbing his face, waking him up for good. The water was ice cold but it felt refreshing. Then helped Yinsen to some water before filling his own water bottle and then considered his next course of action.

There had to be a village down this creek. Mentally bringing up the map of his kingdom, Manhatteros, he thought that following the creek down west should get him to the border of their neighbour-realm. Brooklynos was a friend of Manhatteros and in fact it was to King Rogers’ son that he was betrothed. Maybe this Prince Steven Rogers wouldn’t have been half as bad as he thought. Maybe they could’ve been friends and allowed mistresses on the side, which was nothing to be ashamed of. Their fathers relied on them having children with their mistresses anyway to provide for an heir. 

Maybe… maybe… maybe... but he couldn’t really rely on that, could he? 

Besides, he wasn’t on board with the idea of being dependent on the money of another king. He wanted to provide for his kingdom on his own and he couldn’t do that with the course his father had set. This was the only solution, the only chance his kingdom had. He needed to build the energy-machine, to provide for a prosperous future.

The Prince was ripped from his thoughts when he heard a horse neighing, immediately followed by men screaming. He willed his horse to go into full gallop towards the sounds. Through the trees he saw the street first and then a carriage standing in the middle of the street. He stopped Yinsen far enough away so that they won’t see him approach before tying him to a branch and stalked over to the scene, hiding behind a tree.

He couldn’t believe his eyes. On top of the carriage stood a tall woman, dressed in black armor from head to toe, bright red hair in a high ponytail, working efficiently but gracefully to rob her targets. She was gathering the strongbox while shouting at a man at the right hand side of the carriage. The man was dressed similarly to her and Tony couldn’t see a coat of arms on their amour, which is very unusual. The man has broad shoulders, dark shoulder length brown hair and, like the woman, a black cloth covering the top part of his head. Catching the strongbox she threw down, the man sprinted off as she elegantly jumped onto the branch above her. On that branch sat a weird looking man. Blonde long hair, probably a bard, strumming his lyre and singing off key about the tales of the Avengers. 

The Avengers! He heard about them in rumors. An outlaw group at the border stealing from rich people and gifting it to the poor. Tony’s mind was blown; he hadn’t thought they actually existed, and now he was seeing them in action. He really wasn’t a fan of them stealing from the rich, after all  _ he _ was the rich, but the way they did it was just on the good side of crafty.

Eyes turning back down by the carriage, he saw a slender man in green amour fighting the knights in hand to hand combat the likes of which he had never seen before. Just brutal strength, no strategy. Boxing them unconscious left and right in a way that seemed impossible because of the slender state the man was in. For some reason, he appeared bigger than he actually was in that fight. 

When the slender man was finished, he turned to another man coming around the corner of the carriage and Tony’s breath caught in his throat. Striding in long confident leaps was just about the most beautiful man Tony ever saw. He wore a good-fitting dark blue amour, build like the Greek gods Tony had to read about, darker blonde hair swept back and a beautiful beard that did wonderful things to Tony’s heart. He had, like the others, a black cloth over the eyes, with only small slots for the eyes. This one gave some orders to the man in green amour, pointing in the direction the man that took the strongbox ran off to.

Suddenly Tony felt a breeze behind him and before he could think, there was a sword at his throat and lips at his ears. 

“Who are you and what do you want? Do you belong to them?”

“I don’t belong to anybody, darling,'' he faux whispered back and immediately regretted it when the sword against his throat drew closer. Why did he always had to run his mouth like that? 

“Sorry, Sorry, yes, tough crowd. I am simply a peasant on the run, nothing special about me, just wondering what the heck was going on here,” he lied through his teeth and then turned slightly to smile at her. He winced when the sword scraped at his skin. “Really, you can put that sharp pointy thing away now.”

As if Tony’s words really changed her mind, she lost her grip on him and put the sword away. “I’ll let the Captain decide what to do with you, ‘simple peasant’”, she said the last part as if she didn’t quite believe him, like she knew somehow that he was the escaped Prince. This should be impossible. It wasn’t even after dawn, word couldn’t have gotten out that quickly.

“Yes, right, a Captain, okay. I have a horse just down that creek, would be lovely if I could get him first. Wouldn’t want him to be lonely,” he tried for a charming grin but knew underneath that it wouldn’t work on her. This was proven true when she just fixed him with a sharp look and pushed him forward.

“Captain,” she shouted quite loudly. “Saw a little peasant lurking around.”

Tony frowned at the word “peasant”. Almost wanted to correct her but at the last second thought better of it because it really wasn’t worth blowing his cover over.

The gorgeous man from before turned to them. Up close he was even more beautiful, the sunlight bouncing from his cheekbones and making him look like a muse. He fixed Tony with a stern look and despite himself, and despite the absurd situation, he found his skin prickling with desire.  _ Heavens, he was chronically untouched _ , he thought, snorting at himself.

“Is something funny?” the man snarled. Dammit, he wasn’t great at first introductions.

“No! Everything’s fine, not funny, yes, yes. Just a bit scared, hope you don’t execute me or something, ha ha.” Stop talking, he told himself, honestly you’re not making this better for yourself.

“Where are you from?” the Captain demanded. 

Tony was really up for some good conversation with that gorgeous man, but in the back of his mind this felt like something was wrong. Of course there was the situation with him about to be kidnapped by a vigilante group, but the feeling was about something else entirely. Looking around, he recognised the carriage as one from Hydra. They were a small outlaw organisation working their way to start a new kingdom inside the already existing one. When he was young, his father had always told him stories about his glory days, fighting and then saying they destroyed Hydra completely. Apparently his old man didn’t do as great job as he always thought. Something he remembered from his stories was that they always had someone riding far in front of the carriage and then a group of knights riding after it.

“I would love to answer your questions, honestly, but this is a Hydra carriage.” The Captain’s eyebrows raised at that. “If you know them, like I think you do, you also know that there are more soldiers riding behind this. They’re going to reach us in about a minute.”

The Captain straightened his already very straight posture. “I know that. The question is; How do  _ you _ ?”

_ Very good question, Cap _ , he thought. No idea how to explain that. “Fact is, that is a fairly new carriage. They have been around for a long time. Someone important had to be riding on this carriage for them to be using the new one.” He looked over to the two women tied up on the ground, unconscious. Can’t be asking them any questions. “I think the backup will be more than your usual five knights. I don't know about you but I would rather be getting ready than interrogating me.”

The man in the green amour looked at the carriage curiously. “I think he’s right, Cap. Better be getting ready for a big fight.”

The Captain looked around for a second, then asked, “Where is the Winter Knight?” Tony wondered who that was.

“Ready.” 

The answer came from somewhere to his right, revealing the man that ran off earlier, already in a fighting position, slingshot in hand and everything.

“You stay where you are, peasant, I am coming back to you later,” the Captain said before pointing at him and then at the tree where he came from. “Hide there.”

_ Nice _ , he thought, he’s coming back for me, but what came out was: “Following’s not really my style.”

“If you don’t want to die, I suggest listening to him,'' the lady from earlier said.

“Widow -- ,” and wow Captain, that was rude calling her that in front of everyone, “-- at my four.”

“My condolences”, Tony muttered but jogged over to the tree he came from. He spotted Yinsen grazing a few yards away and went over to him. Behind him he heard the start of the battle. Metal against metal. It should be easy now to gallop away from them, find the nearest city and follow through with the plan he made earlier that day. If he left now, he would never see him again, he was sure of it. He looked down at his penis. “Damn you,” he told it and grabbed his belt with the sword and bombs and quickly ran over to the starting fight.

The Avengers clearly underestimated Hydra. There were about 20 knights and only four of the Avengers, without the bard. Tony was great at sword fighting but he knew he needed the element of surprise to win this battle.

First came three knights on horses and the Avengers fought them quite well but Tony knew that wasn’t it. The knights on foot were slower but they were definitely coming. 

However, the moment they arrived Tony threw a bomb towards them, eliminating five of the ten that came. The explosion alerted the Avengers so they were prepared when the rest of the knights arrived.

Something still didn’t seem right. His bomb reeked of black powder, but he set it off too far away for him to still be smelling it. There was a prickle in the back of his neck. One of the knights fumbled around with a long metal stick, and this _ wasn’t right _ . 

“Cap, shield up!” he shouted. However, the Captain was too far away (shit) so Tony ran over, even though he knew it was a bad idea. 

“Captain!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, “Shield up!” 

Luckily the Captain seemed to have heard and pulled his shield up while simultaneously shouting some curse words at Tony. Something went off. He felt a sharp pain in his chest and then everything went black.

#  3\. 

He woke with a gasp, feeling like he died, came back to life and then died again. Coughing he reached for his chest, only to find it covered in leaves and linen bandages.

“Wha-“, he tried but it got caught in his throat. Everything hurt. His body felt both like it was on fire and like he was ice cold and drowning.

Two hands brought him back down again. 

“Shhh, hey, stay down, you’ll hurt yourself even more.” It was the one with the green armour, now dressed in casual clothing and glasses perched on his nose. 

“You have a piece of metal in your chest. If you move about, you’ll just push it in deeper. I still have to disinfect everything and then stabilize you until I find the right tools to even do that kind of operation.” The man cringed sympathetically when Tony winced. “Take this, it will ease the pain a bit.” He helped Tony to a warm beverage, the mug smelling like lavender and mint. Tony slurped it greedily, feeling it already soothing the pain in his throat.

Somewhere further away he could hear the Captain argue with someone. 

“That was reckless, unnecessary and a threat to all of us,'' the Captain practically belted.

“He saved your life! You didn’t see the small cannon they used!” It sounded like the woman, Widow, the Captain had called her.

The man still hovering over him said, “Don’t listen to them, we need to focus on your recovery.”

Tony slowly looked up at the man. “What happened?” he croaked after coughing some more.

“Well, we do not know exactly what kind of weapon they used, but it was something like a small cannon that can be held in one hand. They aimed at the Captain so we are all glad you warned him about it, so he wouldn’t get …” He paused, “..shot, I think. The small cannon hit the Captain’s shield but it shattered on the edge and one of the shards hit your chest. I am not sure if it ruptured your heart but if you move around too much it definitely will…,” the man said looking conflicted. “I’m called the Hulk, by the way.”

That was a lot to process for Tony. The pain eased off slowly, giving him some room to think about all of this. “Do you have any blacksmith tools at your base?” 

The Hulk stared at him, his glasses seeming too big for his face. This was a completely different man from the one he saw on the battlefield. This man was soft, smart, helpful and maybe a bit awkward. “Yes, we have a small kit we carry around. This is not our base though. We are always on the move. Why?”

_ Better than nothing _ , he thought. “I will write you a list of things I need. I am not ready to die in the middle of nowhere surrounded by strangers. I have an idea how to fixate the shard. Just give me some paper and some space to think about it.”

Luckily the Hulk didn’t ask him any more questions and just brought him the paper and some ink. He had a guilty look on his face when he moved about and Tony thought he probably wasn’t doing it out of pure kindness. His hands looked like they worked their whole life, have seen dark times but the man himself did not seem to want any more blood on them. Certainly, Tony doesn’t care about the Hulk’s motives, just wants to get this done so he can move along on his own.

The other Avengers left him to himself, still quietly arguing and every now and then shooting him some looks. He could see the bard hanging in a tree, singing loudly about something or the other. Widow and the Captain were looking at maps on the ground, Cap was pointing at some rivers with a stick, while Widow argued with the dark haired man over the map. The Hulk sat some yards away from him, also scribbling down on some papyrus, surrounded by grass and herbs. This place, that wasn’t their base, was small. Just a campfire site surrounded by logs and then some tents. Beyond that were two horses, and when he could spot Yinsen among them, he relaxed a bit. On the left, further back, was the improvised blacksmith station.

Tony knew it was risky but his mission was too important to die here. He was ripped from his thoughts when someone sat down next to him, while he was still scribbling some notes down. 

“You need to go, you know that, right? I cannot let you be here. You are a risk not only to yourself but also to my team, and I cannot allow that,” the Captain said, matter of fact. 

Tony felt like there was no room to argue and hated,  _ hated _ that feeling so much. It reminded him of being helpless against his father, not having a say in his future. Even though he doesn’t even _ want _ to be here. It doesn’t make sense.

“No offence, Cap-“

“It’s Captain.”

“ _ Cap _ ,” he said with a challenging grin, “you can’t afford me anyway.”

The Captain’s face remained stern but there was a challenge somewhere in his perfect beautiful blue eyes. Yes, Tony was annoyed by him but that didn’t change the fact that the Captain was the most beautiful man he ever laid his eyes upon. 

“Hawkeye already raided your bags, which means you do not have any money or food anymore. Also this,” he pointed vaguely at Tony’s chest, “doesn’t look too good either. But good luck out there.” He clapped Tony on the shoulder, which hurt a lot, but his face remained carefully neutral. He left Tony to his misery, joining the others who were mingling around the fireplace looking at some maps. Tony watched him go, loving how his ass looked in the under-armour. And if he didn’t know any better he would say that the Captain was swaying his ass a little more on purpose. Huffing out a laugh, Tony shook his head. Hey, he would never see him again, he was allowed to look.

When Cap joined the others they turned to look at him, so Tony smiled and waved with one hand, smirking when everyone narrowed their eyes and turned to talk to the Captain again. It turned into a heated discussion but Tony couldn’t hear what they were saying. Eyes back on the paper he felt like he reached a breakthrough with this invention. He needed a metal circle around the shard, with small rods fixating it. At the end of the rods he could use the magnetic stones Jarvis had packed him. They were incredibly powerful and would keep the metal from pushing deeper into him and fracturing his heart. Now he only needed to convince the Captain for him to use their station for a few hours, max.

Feeling a presence nearby he looked up from his papers only to find the Avengers, plus an even bigger blonde than the Captain, standing in front of him, expectant. The Prince was still sitting on the blanket the Hulk gave him, feeling somehow smaller as he stared up at them. Idly, he tried to stand up but winced as he moved his upper body.

“No no, don’t move, yet,” he felt two strong hands pushing him down again and the Hulk was at his side in an instant, crouching down. The others followed suit crouching down in front of Tony, except for the Captain. They surrounded him like a flock of pigeons examining a bread crumb. Tony winced, feeling put on the spot and scratched the back of his head. The Hulk looked up to the Captain with a stern look,“See, we cannot possibly leave him alone yet! He’ll face certain death!”

Tony swatted the Hulk's arms away. “Excuse me, I am right here! I can take good care of myself, I just need to use your blacksmith station for a few hours!” 

Six sets of unconvinced eyes stared back at him. The Hulk took the papers from him and studied them carefully. After a few seconds he looked at Tony again.“You came up with that just now?” 

Tony nodded. 

“And you can build that with the few tools you have?”

“Of course I can.”

The Hulk looked at the Captain again. “We need to have a word in private,” he said tersely and pulled him away.

Tony rolled his eyes, he hated when things were kept from him.

_ “Tremble little Metal Man you’ll never settle any of your scores…,”  _ the bard sang while strumming his lyre. When he wasn’t trying to sing deliberately bad, he had quite a nice voice.

The widow laughed quietly. “Metal Man sounds good, Hawkeye. What do you think? Shall we call you Metal Man?” speaking now directly to Tony.

“Whatever,” he decided.

“How about we introduce ourselves later tonight. I am sure the Captain will allow you to sleep off your shock for one more night. Thor brought lots of mead, so we were going to have a little celebration later on.”

Tony stared at the big man that the Widow gestured as Thor. What a weird name. It rang some bells in the back of his head, but even with the herbs dulling his pain he couldn’t quite recall it.

The Hulk and Captain Handsome chose this moment to come back to their little gathering.

“So I have decided,”' the Captain announced in a commanding voice Tony only knew from kings. “You can use the blacksmith station for a few more hours. If you succeed with your invention you can stay a few days. The Hulk will search for the right herbs and tools for your operation on our way.”

Tony snorted.

“Did I say something to amuse you?,” the Captain wanted to know.

“No, no, it’s a very generous offer from you, really. But I am planning on leaving tomorrow anyways. I don’t need your help, I just need your station.”

The Captain seemed pleased by that but the Hulk shook his head. “No you don’t understand. Your little machine looks really good, but it will only hold off the shard for maybe three weeks; a month tops. If you ride on your horse, it is even less. Doing the appropriate operation on yourself is nearly impossible,  _ please _ let me help you.”

Tony still looked unconvinced. “You don’t know me at all. For all you know I could try and rob you.”

The brooding man with dark hair laughed at that. “Hawkeye _ already _ robbed you.” The man in question shot him a wink.

“I would give you the benefit of the doubt and let you explain yourself, but the way you saved our Captain is reason enough for me to believe you are a good man.” The Captain obviously didn’t agree with that, but if Tony was honest with himself, he knew some company would help him for now. Especially because they had to be looking for Tony already all over the kingdom.

“I already said we’ll do introductions at the fire later. Thor brought way too much mead…,” the Widow mentions as Hulk and Thor went in for a high five.

“Let me show you the station,'' the Captain said eventually, still not happy with how the events turned out. The others scrambled around doing whatever it is the Avengers did when they weren’t robbing off the rich. Probably plotting against the rich. If they only knew…

He followed the Captain, eyes glued to his butt. That butt was also a big reason as to why staying for a few days wasn’t such a bad idea. And it will piss of the Captain, who wanted a different course for him, which was an added bonus.

“Here,” the Captain indicated towards the fire before he showed him how to start one before he turned to leave. “I will wait,” he said.

Out of literally nowhere, somewhere above him Hawkeye’s lyre came washing over them: “ _ I will wait, I will wait for you ~~” _

The Captain just rolled his eyes “Get to work Hawkeye, do not get on my nerves.” 

Hawkeye sprang from the branch. “But I already wrote a song for him, Cap!” 

Tony lifted his eyes knowingly at the ‘Cap’ part and the Captain held his gaze while narrowing his eyes. 

“It’s from your perspective, though,” Hawkeye added.

“Please spare us,” the Captain pleaded while picking up a map and getting to work on something.

Ignoring him, Hawkeye strummed his lyre. It was upbeat and Tony soon found himself lost in his work and Hawkeyes singing.

_ “Weep for yourself, my man, You’ll ever be what is in your heart,” _ Hawkeye sprang from log to log as he sang, dancing around. 

_ “Weep little Metal Man you’re not as brave as you were at the start.” _

The Widow’s head shot up and she was smirking, moving her body to the music while she kept explaining something to the Captain. Thor and the Hulk started moving too, smiling to themselves.

Hawkeye stopped on a log next to the Captain: 

_ “But it was not your fault but mine.  _

_ And it was your heart on the line.  _

_ I really fucked it up this time.  _

_ Didn’t I, my dear?” _

Cap reached out but before he could hit the bard, he was already gone, hopping to the next log and laughing. Tony shook his head but he was laughing too, and went back to work. Maybe he could get used to this.

#  4\. 

“I’m like a hawk, you know?” 

Tony stared at the bard for a long time. “No,” he finally decides. 

They were all sitting around at the bonfire they threw together earlier. Tony’s invention worked exactly like he wanted it to. He had strapped it around his body with some leather straps the Hulk offered him. It now sat securely against his chest, feeling strange and cold, but it also made him feel a lot safer than before as it did not hurt anymore when he moved. 

The Captain seemed almost impressed when he first saw the contraption on Tony’s chest and Tony couldn’t remember a time he had felt so proud of himself. For a while the Captain didn’t say anything before he pressed out a short “Good job” and went to cut some more wood for the fire.

He now sat on the opposite side of Tony and whenever he looked at him he found Cap openly staring at him and at the thing on his chest. Every now and then Tony shot him a quick wink letting him know that Tony knew he was being watched. That always irritated him for a few moments, though Tony did see him blush a few times, until his face came back to the neutral frown he was wearing all evening.

They started the introductions and Hawkeye was the first to go. He had no idea what he would say when it was his turn, so he just listened carefully.

“I always sit perched on top of something high, just watching everything and singing beautifully.” 

Everyone groaned at that and Tony bit back a laugh, he quite liked Hawkeyes voice, but they probably had to listen to it for many hours a day, so that could border on annoying. 

“Also I sometimes throw shit at people.”

The Winter Knight threw an arm around Hawkeye and laughed, “He really  _ is _ good at throwing shit at people!” 

Hawkeye lifts his goblet of mead to that: “I  _ am _ good at throwing shit!” and took a huge gulp. 

Everyone followed suit, including Tony, except for the Captain who hadn’t so much as touched his goblet. Tony side eyed them for a moment before asking wearily: “You don’t really mean  _ shit _ shit, do you? Like excrement?”

The whole Avengers lost it for a minute, laughing uncontrollably and Tony felt like actual shit. Except for the Captain, who just rolled his eyes. “No, but I can understand how you came to that conclusion,” the Captain said while giving him a soft smile.

And they all started giggling again. A blush crept its way on Tony’s face but he is definitely blaming it on the alcohol. Or the fire. Or both. 

They were really drunk, Tony realised. He already felt a nice warmth and fuzziness settling in his brain and, judging by the way the others all leaned on each other and giggling, they had to feel the same. Except for the Captain.

The man in question straightened up even more, if possible and asked, “Now, Metal Man, tell us your story. What makes you wander around in the woods all by yourself? Even wearing an armour of the Stark house, of all the insignias you could wear.”

All eyes were on him, waiting for him to explain. Suddenly Tony wished he hadn’t had quite so much mead and started to sweat, although he was a bit offended at the last part of Cap’s sentence.

“I am on the run,” he began, which really was nothing but the truth. “I fled from the dungeons of the Starks and stole the armour to escape.” Everyone sat up a little straighter at that and Tony was confused for a minute. He scratched his eyebrow and closed his eyes for a minute before remembering they were probably wondering what he did to get thrown into the dungeon.  _ Good question. _

“The Stark Kingdom is currently in a recession, which means the people are all poor as hell,” he continued and noticed the Widow's eyes fixed on him with an intensity he had not seen before. Shit, he shouldn’t have used the word “recession”. Peasant people probably didn’t know that one. 

“Then, my parents died and I had to take care of myself and my little sister. I got caught stealing bread and during a recession that is enough of a reason to throw someone in the dungeon,” he finished. Heavens, he prayed, hopefully they’ll believe that.

Everyone was looking at him with sympathy when he finished, so he hoped it was a success. 

“So where is your sister now?” the Captain asked. He was not quite as convinced it seems.

“She is dead, actually. Died from malnourishment during my time in the dungeon. When they told me, I bolted.”

The Captain winced, looking down. “I’m sorry”. Serves him well, that bastard. Even though it was a complete lie, Tony felt bad on behalf of his imaginary sister.

“Fucking Starks,” Hawkeye mumbled from where he was perched next to the Winter Knight. 

“We’re really sorry, Metal Man,” the Widow offered.“Things like that are the whole reason we’re doing this. The rich are robbing the poor, and when they do, the poor die. When we steal from the rich, they don’t die. Maybe they can’t afford the fifth stable boy, but I guess that’s a fair price to pay.”

Tony swallowed around the lump in his throat. He could feel these people went through awful things, while he grew up with a silver spoon. He knew he did not deserve the sympathy they offered.

“First of all, please stop calling me Metal Man, it sounds like a weird group of bards.” 

Hawkeye laughed loudly at that commenting,“It really does.”

“Mh, Iron man, sounds a lot better. My machine is made of ferromagnets, iron, anyway.” As he said that, he could feel it being right. It felt good, calling himself that. Maybe it was just the mead, but something clicked inside of him, like a piece falling into place.

“Second of all, why do they call you ‘Widow’?”

“I am one,” she said and Tony stuttered. 

“I am sorry.”

“Oh don’t be,” she assured him.“I was the one that killed my husband.”

With wide eyes he looked around checking for signs that she was kidding. He found none. The Winter Knight held his gaze and remarked, “Oh, she is not kidding. She  _ did _ kill her husband.”

Hawkeye strummed a few chords. 

_ “She can kill with a smile, she can wound with her eyes.  _

_ She can ruin your faith with her casual lies. _

_ And she only reveals what she wants you to see.” _

The Widow smiled at him, like he just gave her the most beautiful compliment, and maybe he did. There was a story between them, a bond the likes of which Tony has never seen before. Right now he was too scared to ask but he stored the information away for later. Tony didn’t know a lot about women, but he thinks the Widow may be a bit different than the ones he got to know before. Then again, the whole Avengers were people like he had never met before.

He turned to the broody man on his left, “Why are you called the Winter Knight? You were knighted in Winter?” 

The man in question chuckled. “Something like that”, he offered, and then grew very serious.

“You do not have to tell him, if you don’t want to,'' the Captain said softly to the other man. Something like jealousy inside of Tony churned at the way Cap spoke so softly to him whereas Tony only got a cold tone and stony looks. Obviously these two had a different kind of bond.

“It’s okay”, the Winter Knight said just as softly, before continuing with a harder voice: “I got abducted on a mission. They brought me to the northeastern islands. Experimenting…” 

He swallowed harshly, looking down at his arm. Cap reached out to put a hand on his knee. Only now did Tony recognise the exoskeleton on his right arm. Metal glistening in the fire. It was a rustic built, amateurish, like whoever did this had no idea what they were doing. Iron or steel incorporated in his … skin. The small metal braces wound into his arm, scarring the whole area. It looked brutal. 

“I got trained to be a bounty hunter during the winter. I was the only one that was able to work during the winter, the only one to stand the cold. I killed --” He looked to the ground.“They brainwashed me. It wasn’t really me, doing it,” he didn’t elaborate on that. Instead he looked at the Captain. 

“Cap rescued me one day.” The two of them looked at each other, saying things with their eyes Tony didn’t understand. The Winter Knight cleared his throat. “And, well, I got called the Winter Knight because of that.”

“Winter Bounty Hunter just didn’t have the right ring to it,” Hawkeye jumped in, earning a slap on the face from the Winter Knight but both of them were laughing and the mood lightened instantly. The name triggered an old memory of Tony’s but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Now we have almost everyone. Dear Captain why don’t you tell us what makes you wear that scowl so proudly,” Tony laughed, feeling like he’s on a cloud from all the mead.

Hawkeye’s eyes twinkled in the dark, fire dancing in them, letting everyone know he was up to something. “I have just the perfect song for describing the Captain.”

The group giggled, apparently knowing what comes next. 

_ “I am a rock, I am an IIIIsland”, _ Hawkeye belted before losing it completely and giggling _ .  _

_ “I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain! _ ” he sings in a low voice, obviously imitating the Captain. 

_ “It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain!” _

Everyone joined in now:  _ “I am a rock! I am iiiiiiisland!..! ” _

Everyone lost themselves in laughter although the Captain himself didn’t find it as amusing as they did. He stood up, face wearing an even deeper scowl and made his way over to one of the tents.

“Hey, Hey, Cap, you know we don’t mean it that way. Come back,” Hawkeye called but betraying his words by giggling in between them.

The Winter Soldier sighed, stood up, and followed the Captain to his tent. Leaving Tony again with that hellish feeling of jealousy. He didn’t even like the Captain! He was just a fine piece of ass in an annoying shell of a man. And yes, his eyes had a soft twinkle in them and he smiled like he loved the group of misfits more than he loved himself, and he looked like he sacrificed a lot in his days… And something about him just made Tony’s stomach churn, in the bad and good way.

While the two lovebirds were gone the Hulk introduced himself properly, saying he was a doctor from the desert. He left the desert to join the Avengers when his folks were slaughtered because of some gang fights about money. It seemed that the issues with money and hating the rich combined all these strange people and bonded them deeper than a flag could ever do. 

Thor, on the other hand, was a bit harder to read. He spoke like a leader but didn’t name what kingdom or tribe he led. He also said something about his brother being led by greed and endangering his people on many occasions. Apparently he had to go back to his people every now and then to check up on his family.

“You know, there’s nothing romantic between our Captain and the Winter Knight,” the Widow commented, leaning close to his ear, so only he could hear. By then, the Hulk and Thor were deep in conversation about some new fist fighting technique and Hawkeye was quietly strumming to himself about the story of a poor winter boy.

Tony looked at the Widow like she had four eyes. Which, to his eyes, she kind of had. He should really lay off the mead.

“Come on, I saw you almost jumping out of your skin in jealousy when the two of them talked and then when Knight followed Cap to his tent. They went through a lot and they grew up together like brothers, but it’s nothing more than that. Don’t worry,” she added with a wink.

“I am not worr-” but his defence was cut short by the two men returning to the fire.

The Winter Knight sat himself back next to Hawkeye and, after immediately recognizing the song, began singing along _ . “I come looking for a job, but I get no offers. Just a come-on from the whores.” _

Surprisingly the Captain didn’t sit down across from him again. Instead, he sat down next to Tony, smiling a quiet smile. Tony’s heart leaped at that, drumming hard against the little machine on his chest. Stupid heart, betraying him like always. The Captain was so beautiful, up close, smiling and carefree like he did now.

“Singing the Winter Knights song again, Hawkeye?” Cap teased, betraying his words by quietly joining in when they sang the chorus with just a tired rumble of  _ lie la lie _ .

While everyone sang quietly, Tony felt the strong need to lean his head against the Captain’s shoulders. He refrained from doing so though, fearing he would be a head shorter if he did. But they were just so damn lean-able. All strong but soft looking. And his head felt way too heavy. The Captain was slowly swaying next to him, ever so often bumping his shoulder into Tony’s.

When everyone’s eyes started to drop and Hawkeye was only half heartedly fiddled with his lyre while resting his head against the Knight’s, the Widow called it a night.

The others followed suit, wishing their goodnights, leaving Tony and the Captain alone at the dying fire. Restless Tony played with his chest plate, feeling more awake and aware of his body than ever before. Next to him Cap was shifting around as well.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

“What?” Tony was shocked.

The Captain sighed. “I am sorry, Iron man. I behaved like a total goon earlier. You did save my life and I am forever grateful for that,” he reached out and put his hands on Tony’s knee, the way he did earlier with the Winter Knight. Feeling brave, Tony laid his hand on top of the other man’s. It was warm and solid and everything felt right at that moment.

“Thank you for not kicking me out the moment I woke up.” That wasn’t what he really wanted to say, but  _ Please kiss me and let me climb you like a baobab tree _ wasn’t really fitting the mood.

The Captain took his hand while he said that, intertwining their fingers. “You should not feel that way. I was only concerned for my people. Although, now I realise that you may have the same intentions as we have, coming from a background of oppression, poverty and even imprisonment. I can relate to that.” He squeezed Tony’s hand once more before releasing it. 

“I do not want to lie to you. I cannot tell you where I’m really from, but just believe me when I say that I did not grow up the same way as all of you. However, I can still relate. I have been on the run and leading the Avengers for a few years now. I’ve seen poverty, felt it. The fear of not knowing if you will find something to eat. Worrying about the people you love dying from malnourishment, not feeling safe…” he trailed off, having a lost look on his face.

A sudden wave of guilt washed over him. Cap didn’t want to lie to him, instead telling him as much truth as he could. Whereas Tony lied to his face, lied his ass off to get some sympathy he didn’t deserve.

Before that guilt would eat him away he yawned loudly, hoping that Cap would get the message. Luckily he did.

“You want to go get some sleep? You can have my mattress if you want. I will stay in the infirmary tent.”

“Thanks but I can really-,” he started but the Captain interrupted him. 

“It’s okay, honestly.”

The Captain helped him to his feet and led him to one of the tents. “Good night, Iron man.”

“Goodnight Captain.”

#  5.

The night bleed into day and the Avengers plus Tony were on the move again. They packed everything in the morning, which were not as much as he thought at first, saddled the horses and went on with their journey. During the day they explain to him what to expect. It’s a two days walk to the collector, where they will sell their stolen goods from Hydra in exchange for money. With the money it’s only a one day walk to a small village where they will stay a day and leave some of their money. The rest they’ll keep with them and distribute to a larger town. 

“Essendos,” the Hulk explained. “Heading east of the river.”

“But that’s over the border, in Brooklynos,” Tony stated.

“Yes, most of the time we operate in Brooklynos. Like you said, Manhatteros is rather poor, it just feels wrong.” 

No, Tony did not understand at all, but he nodded anyways.

“You know anything about Prince Rogers?”

The mood suddenly changed and everyone looked awkwardly at each other. 

“What? Did he, like, kill one of your parents?” Tony wanted to know.

The Captain slowed down and fell into step next to him and the Hulk. “Did you not hear about him running away?”

The Prince thought about that for a moment, while the other Avengers watched him with interest. If Prince Rogers ran away, why did his father want him to marry the Prince? Did he not know that the Prince was gone? 

“But… there was an engagement? Prince Rogers was to be betrothed to Prince Stark?”

“My … ah King arranged that proposal to lure Prince Rogers back to the castle. Unsurprisingly, it did not work.” Cap looked uncomfortable talking about that. He kept scratching at his neck and looking over to the Winter Knight. The latter looked everywhere but Cap, scowling. The Winter Knight was still hungover from yesterday's mead, so he was expected to be in a grumpy mood. The few days Tony camped with the Avengers he learned that the broody Winter Knight liked to drink. A lot. What Tony did not know though was, what that had to do with Prince Rogers. 

“Why did the Prince run away?”

The Widow eyed him suspiciously and didn’t answer. Instead she asked, “Why did  _ Prince Stark _ ran away?”

The Captain’s eyes widened. This was apparently news to everyone. It wasn’t even two days and word on the street already got this far? When did the Widow even have the time to meet up with a messenger? The Avengers exchanged some curious glances, Hawkeye put his lyre away and even the WInter Knight finally looked at least somewhat interested. 

“Fleeing from an engagement? His predicted future? The monarchy?”

Suddenly, Cap smiled at him. It was his warm quiet smile, and the mood shifted again. “He probably had his reasons.”

What? Tony was definitely confused now. Did he know? Why would he express himself in such a vague way? The Captain nudged his shoulder with his own and Tony completely lost his train of thought. He stared up at Cap, getting lost in his beautiful blue eyes. It was definitely unfair how great the Captain looked in his armour, the dark blue fitting his eyes so perfectly. All of their armours were darker, making Tony’s Stark-armour seem flashy and out of place, although the Captain assured him he liked it. Maybe Tony was a little bit in love.

They continued on and over the next few days he spent most of his time talking to the Captain. Mostly friendly banter, some arguing, and lots and lots of flirting. In the evenings they sat close to each other, and on more than one occasion the Captain smiled his small private smile for him. 

During their last night travelling, after everyone went to bed, someone knocked on his tent.  _ Who could that be? _ Tony thought.  _ The Captain? Wasn’t it way too early for that? _ He propped himself up on one elbow and tried on a flirty smile when the person pushed aside the cloth. “Hey-- Widow? What,” Tony said incredulously, eyes almost popping out of his head. He scrambled into a sitting position. “What are you doing here Widow?”

She smiled knowingly and sat herself across from Tony. “You have to tell him.”

Tony stared at her for a moment: “That I am utterly in love with him?”

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because Natasha laughed. “That’s cute, but not what I meant.” She laid a hand on his thigh. “It’s better he gets it from you than from anyone else. We don’t know who’s around in these woods.”

“What do yo-”

“Prince Stark,” the Widow said, bowing her head while she smiled.

“ _ How _ did yo-”

“Doesn’t matter how I found out. What matters is that you should tell him. He will understand, I promise. Just don’t let him find it out from someone else.”

Never has he been so confused in his life. How did she find out? Should he deny it? 

\---------------------------------------

Tony thought about all of this throughout the night and deliberated on what to do. He wasn't sure if he wanted Cap to know his true identity. It seemed like it would just invite more complications. He was still thinking about it while he and Cap ended up near each other the next day. 

“Thank you for forgiving me. I am honestly glad you decided to walk with us. I finally have someone to talk to.”

The Captain smiled at him while he talked. They were the backmarker of the group, quietly talking. Cap told him about how in the other marches, he mostly walked in silence. The Hulk was busy looking out for herbs and mushrooms, the Winter Knight was too hungover to talk, Hawkeye singing loudly to annoy the Winter Knight, the Widow remained silent and Thor was either gone or walked by quietly mumbling to himself.

“I feel the same, Captain. Though I am surprised two peasants have so much to talk about…” he made some hand movements. Hopefully he didn’t seem too nervous.

“You are quite insightful,” the Captain commented with a smirk.

Tony shook his head in silent laughter, heavens he was already so smitten with the other man.

“So, why does the Winter Knight drink so much anyways?” He pointed over to where the man in question tried to shield his eyes from the sun while simultaneously swatting off a laughing Hawkeye. 

Cap was suddenly standing up straighter and fumbled around with his armour, a nervous habit. “He wasn’t always like that. When he … you know, became the bounty hunter-”

“And you rescued him?”

“Yes I rescued him, but not all of him. Something in him was lost forever. He now tries to fill it up with booze and sex but it’s not really working.” He gestured to the Knight walking slowly with his head low, trying angrily to swat Hawkeye away. “I try to take care of him as best as I can, but it’s hard…”

Tony swallowed heavily. This was what he was afraid of. “Taking care of him… sexually?”

The Captain laughed a loud belly laugh until the Winter Knight stared angrily at him and he laughed more quietly. “Wha- no. What?”

Trying to contain his hurt, Tony looked at the ground. The corner of his mouth twitched. Why was he laughing at him?

“Iron Man, no, look at me.” The Captain had stopped to put his finger on Tony’s chin, lifting it up to look at him. “I am not taking … God no. He is like a brother to me. We grew up together, stuck with each other through thick and thin. He was on a mission with me when he got kidnapped. Since then I…,” he stopped, looking up awkwardly. “…blamed myself for his kidnapping and I’m trying to make up for it…”

The strong Captain suddenly looked so vulnerable, that Tony almost put his chin up to kiss him. Almost. He stopped himself at the last minute, choosing to hug him instead. “I think I do not have to tell you what you already know yourself about that particular issue. I just hope someday you can believe it.”

“Thank you,” he whispered. They stayed like that for a moment longer. The others didn’t seem to notice or care at all. Tony’s head fit perfectly under the Captain’s chin, while a hand wound himself in Tony’s short brown hair, stroking slowly. He closed his eyes and breathed in, smelling sweat and herbs and wood and it was beautiful. Tony grinned and decided to break the moment.

“But you  _ do _ know that somebody  _ is _ banging your brother?” Tony whispered back. On multiple occasions he was woken up by unmistakable sex sounds from the Winter Knight’s tent. Deep in his mind he knew it wasn’t Cap but there was some doubt as he let Tony sleep in his tent and always went to bed somewhere else. 

Cap sighed, sounding exhausted and releasing Tony slowly. They started walking again, hands brushing occasionally at their sides. “Yes I know, I sleep very lightly. But it is nobody’s business what he does when we are not on duty. And I just genuinely do not want to think about it, okay? He is my brother.” He shuddered and Tony laughed. 

“Prude.”

Surprisingly the Captain didn’t say anything just blushed and ducked his head. What a turn of events. He nudged the Captains shoulder with his own and glanced up at him through hooded eyes. For effect he even waggled his eyebrows. “What, you’ve never bedded on the road?”

Cap sighed, obviously uncomfortable. “We are trying to keep a low profile. When we are in town the Knight always hides in the nearest brothel and only comes out for more booze. I am not like that, though.” He blushed even further. “I want to have an honest connection, make it count.” Cap looked so embarrassed Tony forgot for a minute he was teasing him.

“That is beautiful,” he told him earnestly and looped his hand around the Captains arm, leaning against the other man. Cap just huffed a laugh and tried to wind himself away, clearly still embarrassed.

“I am not joking, Cap.” Albeit he was a bit teasing. “I think it is beautiful and sweet.” 

Nevertheless, he did put some space between them so the Captain can relax. “Actually glad you are not hooking up with your brother,” he added.

Cap laughed, took the Prince’s hand and shook his head. His face seemed to relax and he looked almost content and happy as he stared up into the sky. After a while of walking he put Tony’s hand to his face and kissed the back of his hand.

( [Art by: Kota](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KotaRiverRoad/profile) )

Tony’s mouth dropped open, the touch of lips on the sensitive back of his hand sending shivers down his spine. The moment was intimate without any trace of impropriety. The Captain had his eyes closed, head bending slightly. When he heard Tony’s gasp, he smiled a little but didn’t open his eyes.

Without another comment, the Captain drops his hand again but didn’t let go. Tony felt like a giddy kid, on the morning of his birthday. He smiled so wide his lips almost burst but didn’t say a thing.

That’s how they went, smiling from ear to ear, hand in hand walking down the river. Yinsen was happily trotting beside them, ever so often nudging Tony’s head with his own, as to remind him he’s still here. The sun was nearly setting, the golden hour upon them, the trees glistening in the sunlight. They should arrive at the village soon.

On the one hand, he felt more exposed than ever being in peasant clothes, without his armour to surround him, without his coat of arms stretching along his chest. On the other hand, he is hiding his true identity and lied to the Captain’s face, which made him feel incredibly closed off and guilty.The Widow said Cap would understand if he heard it from him. Tony made the plan to tell him at the village tomorrow.

#  6\. 

Arriving at the village was different from what Tony expected. It was a small one and the villagers apparently expected them to show up. Kids greeted them like heroes, but they also expected something from them. Heroism. They gave away some of their money, swapped stories from the kingdom and helped them with small issues.

An older lady confronted him about her broken carriage, so he excused himself from the Captain and followed her. He looked back to see the Captain following his steps with fond eyes. Feeling proud he smiled to himself and followed the lady to her carriage.

After some fiddling, repairing a wheel, updating the body of the carriage and listening to the latest gossip in the village, Tony returned to the others. The Avengers were all mingling around the bonfire on the main square. The Winter Knight who, true to Caps word, went straight to the brothel after arriving, apparently brought two dames with him, one to his right and one to his left, and was happily groping them. Hawkeye was next to them strumming on his lyre, and pointedly looked in the other direction where the Widow and Thor where sitting arm in arm both swinging to the music and singing. Some villagers must have joined them because there were three young men Tony didn’t recognize. The Hulk sat next to some wonky looking man and pointing to something in his notebook. At last he saw the Captain who was already looking at him, waving and scooting to make some room for Tony.

The Prince’s heart made a leap and he already felt warmer. It had gotten pretty cold outside and laying on the ground for several hours, fixing the carriage had him shivering pretty hard. When he sat down next to Cap he immediately took his hand and turned to Tony with concern in his voice, “You are ice cold and shivering, Iron Man. Here.” The Captain got a lambskin blanket from somewhere to his left and draped it over the two of them. “That’s better, isn’t it?”

_ Yes _ , Tony thought.  _ It is with you next to me.  _ He smiled and just scooted closer to the Captain to lay his head on the other man's shoulder. He felt Cap smile against his head and then a hand wound around his waist.  _ This is what happiness feels like _ , he thought. Cap’s hand was keeping him right next to him, drawing circles on his side with soft fingertips. Slowly Cap’s fingers found their way under Tony’s linen shirt making him shiver. Cap’s hands were warm on his cold skin, softer than he would have imagined. Almost tickling Tony, he never stopped grazing his fingertips over his sides.

With a content sigh he slumped against the Captain and looked into the flames. A low rumble almost startled him, until he realised the Captain was singing. It was Hawkeye’s song and Cap wasn’t good at it, barely a whisper, just dragging the words out, as if he didn’t realise he was singing them.

_ “How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes...” _

It was a good song, sad in a way, but beautiful. Tony loved the different take Hawkeye took on his bard songs.

However, apparently the Knight didn’t think so. “Yo Hawky,” he slurred, whilst still groping the woman on his right, “play something funny, would ya. My ladies don’t like your sad, lonely songs.” As if he said something funny, he laughed loudly and annoyingly, as did his entourage. The mood changed to something awkward and the singing and playing stopped abruptly.

Hawkeye rolled his eyes and with much drama turned around to face the drunken Knight. “And what would the oh so mighty Winter Knighty desire?”

Not picking up on the awkward mood the Knight simply put on a toothy smile and lifted his goblet: “The “Introduction of a Mighty King” it should be!”

The Widow huffed but Thor apparently liked this choice. “Wonderful!”

Tony lifted his head and turned to Cap in wonder: “What King?”

Suddenly Clint rose from his seat and played an upbeat melody. Pacing around the fire he began to sing.  _ “Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste _ .” Hawkeye ran from side to side, singing in the faces of his spectators, introducing himself as a mean and drunken king. Horrible to his people, watched as they died in wars, left the economy to crumbles and…

“It is King Stark II!” he proclaimed to the Captain. Cap just laughed and nodded. Tony felt sick. Yes, his father wasn’t nice to him and he fled from the king but … it was different when the Avengers as a group called him out. It was still his father after all…

And he wanted to tell the Captain later that night, that he was a Stark, too.

“What?” Cap looked at him puzzled, “You have a problem with us making fun of your king? He threw you in the dungeon for stealing some bread, remember?”

Tony remembered very clearly his father throwing him in the dungeon. “Yes…,” he started, “It still feels weird. Wrong, in an honour kind of way. I’m sorry, you have to think I am wonky…”

“No”, Cap looked at him in a weird way. As if Tony held the answers to the Universe in his eyes. “I know exactly how that feels.”

Instinctively Tony doubted that, but something in Caps eyes let him know that he really understood. There was a struggle as two forces battle in his chest. Respect for his father and his own free spirit and mind, that disagrees with him in almost every way. How the Captain understood, he doesn’t know, but he doesn’t ask.

“I can ask him to stop,” Cap whispered, all close up in Tony’s face.

For a moment Tony got lost in Cap’s eyes. Stormy blue clashes with soft green, all concerned and delicate. Puffs of air hit him in the face, Cap smelled like thyme and rosemary, his lips were way to close. All smooth and Tony wondered how the beard would feel against his chin and…

“Iron Man?”

_ Oh _ , he was asked a question. “I’m okay, it’s… okay.”, he decided and grabbed a goblet of mead. He chugged once, feeling the honey burn down his throat. After finishing half the goblet he passed it onto Cap. “It's not as bad as Thor’s stuff, honestly.”

But the Captain put his hands over the mug and put it down. “I usually don’t drink, but thanks.” He smiled at Tony’s disappointed look and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. As his soft lips met his beard stubble along his jaw, Tony stopped breathing for a minute. “Party pooper”, Tony whispered against Cap’s skin.

“This party is boring, anyways, want to go?” Cap said to Tony’s surprise. And who was he to say no to someone like Captain Handsome.

“Yes, yes a thousand times yes”, he breathed.

Cap stood up, brought the lambskin with him and then held his hand out for Tony to take. He took the offered hand gingerly but didn’t let it go when he stood next to the Captain. “We’re calling it a night,'' he said but Tony didn’t hear anything anyone else was saying anymore. Everything was clouded with Cap, Cap and his blue eyes, warm hand, solid chest, …

Cap led him to the Inn and it felt like Tony was the virgin instead of him. He felt almost anxious when they arrived at their shared room. Moreover he needed to tell Cap who he really was before more happened between the two of them. Maybe Cap felt differently after that.

“Cap, we need to talk abou-“ abruptly the words were caught in his throat when the Captains mouth pressed on his. That was it with the talking tonight, he guessed. Hungry hands found themselves all over Tony’s body, and pushed him against the closing door.

\-----------------

He awoke feeling too warm, too warm, too warm and- oh! there was a body beside him.

Tony scrambled up, feeling trapped, like hot iron was melting on his chest. His rattled sounds of breathing filled the room,and when he grabbed at his chest he found not skin but metal. It was barely dawn outside. Everything was quiet, way too quiet. He needed horses neighing, Jarvis knocking at his door –  _ Jarvis _ – he missed him so much. His heart beat way too fast and it _ hurt _ .

“Iron Man, hey, sweetheart, are you okay? Come on breathe.”

Suddenly there were warm hands on his face, a warm embrace and the Captain was breathing with him. Slowly inhaling and slowly exhaling.

“I have to tell you something,'' he heard himself saying and Cap let him go, but stayed near. “I have to … I wanted to tell you yesterday but you know…”

And the Captain had the decency to  _ blush _ at that. “Tell me.”

“I was not thrown into the dungeon for stealing bread for my sister. I do not have a sister.” Cap’s face remained carefully neutral, albeit there was a worrying edge to his eyes. “I didn’t kill anyone, don’t worry, it's just I…”

He had a whole speech prepared in his head. It was there somewhere, it had to be. Damn it all to hell. He looked Cap in the eyes, feeling more lost than ever in them and hoping someday he could call him something else than “Cap.” For now, he hoped that his revelation wouldn’t have him running. It's now or never, Iron Man.

He stared hard, took a deep breath: “I am Prince Tony Stark”

And then all hell broke loose.

#  7\. 

Hell broke loose.

Not in the room, no. Cap was still silent and Tony did not know what else to say. The noise was outside where people were shouting, then screaming. The sounds of horses galloping filled in the gaps. 

“Shit, shit shit, not now,” Cap cursed and scrambled off the bed. He tore open the windows and cursed again. “Hydra.”

He turned to Tony. “This conversation is not finished. Get dressed,  _ Prince Stark _ ,” Cap spat his name out like it was a curse. He threw Tony’s armour at him and got dressed himself quickly. Without another glance at Tony, he ran out the door.

This was not how this was supposed to go. Tony fell back against the mattress one more time breathing in heavily before sighing and lifting himself up. He got dressed quickly and followed the Captain out the door. He came back a second later though to go and grab the black cloth Steve kept on his nightstand for him. Always better to be prepared, he thought while putting the cloth over his eyes and fixing the little holes for his eye sockets. 

Outside, Thor, the Hulk and Widow were already fighting against the Knights storming the small village. Tony stood in the doorway of the Inn looking over the scene when it hit him: those were Stark Knights. Not his guard, thank God, but independent mercenaries, that referred to themselves as soldiers of fortune. 

The Captain was in the front lines, keeping most of the Knights from entering the village. He was tossing a round metal object around, throwing knights off their horses and screaming orders at the other Avengers at the same time.

“Cap, DUCK!” Tony shouted as a knight came from behind the Captain, his sword ready to swing and behead him. In the last minute Cap swung around and cast his round shield against the enemy knight, throwing him off the horse. In an instant Tony was by his side, shoving the sword deep into the knight who had already started to swing his sword again. 

“Thanks Iron Man, I could’ve done that, too.”

Tony side-eyed him for a moment. “Yeah, sure,” he mutters, unsure. Blood was dripping from his sword as he looked down at the knight. He didn’t hesitate for a second when he saw that Cap was in danger. Tony reached out to touch the blood on his sword, feeling it’s still warm, and rubbing it between his thumb and index finger. Cap was already fighting again next to him, defending hits left and right. Tony was ripped out of his trance when he heard a shout coming from in front of him and he saw a knight approaching with a lifted sword. 

“Get a grip, Iron Man!” Cap shouted to his left. 

Gritting his teeth Tony lifted his sword to block the hit from the opposing knight. “Shut up.” 

Then the Winter Knight appeared out of thin air next to them, looking like he hadn’t slept in months. He loaded up his slingshot, hitting a few knights perfectly, making them unconscious and then grinned devilishly. “What are we fighting about?”

Somehow the other Avengers, minus Hawkeye, had gathered around them too, fighting off the knights, before they even came close to the village.

“Iron Man is …,” Cap stopped suddenly realising too that they were fighting the Stark’s knights. Good thinking, the Prince mused. That would have been another problem he had no intention of dealing with. Tony was glad he was wearing a black cloth over his eyes and ripped off all of the colours off his armour. 

“You know… the Devil’s son!” the Captain shouted while turning around and blocking two attackers. Tony turned his back to him, so they were standing back to back fighting off knights. He was confused at first at “the Devil’s son”. Thor even shouted: “So he’s a Nephilim?” while almost hitting Tony in the face when he threw his hammer.

From somewhere to his left he heard the Widow sigh loudly, even over the roaring battle sounds. “The devil in Hawkeye’s song!”

Realisation dawned over him and judging by the universal “Ahhh”, the other Avengers got it too.

“I can’t  _ believe _ \--”, Cap gritted out through his teeth, pushing off another knight and then hitting him in the face with his shield. Tony had never seen the round shield before, and the Captain didn’t even have a sword. He just fought with his shield. “--you lied to all of us!”, Cap finished.

“You robbed and killed off my -” he stopped, looking at the knight he was fighting with. His people. “-people!” He hesitated for a moment, losing balance as he thought about the possibility of Rhodey being in front of him. The attacker used this moment of instability and stabbed him in the side. 

“Of course I--” he huffed out an exhausting breath and swung his sword to end this, “--didn’t tell you!” He put his hand at his side and felt a wetness there, leaking through his clothes. Shit, he thought. He needed to focus. This weren’t really his knights. He eyed the Stark insignia on the armour of the knight in front of him: Three lines underneath it. These were independent mercenaries operating under the Stark name. Side eyeing the Captain he ripped off a bit of fabric off the knight still wriggling on the ground, and bound it around his torso to keep the blood from spilling. 

He thought he was being clever but the Captain still saw him. “Report, what’s wrong Iron Man?” 

“Nothing” 

He still could have trained with them. These knights were his age. 

Why was he fighting them anyways? He barley ducked out from another hit and started noticing the worrying glances Cap and Widow shot him. 

Blocking another hit, he got right into the face of the knight.

“Why are you here?” Tony gritted out “What do you want from them?” 

“You know Prince Stark?” Iron clinked with Iron and Tony didn’t understand what was said next but then: “We got a tip he’s here. You seen him?” 

A sharp pain in his ankle made him curse. He has to be more careful. But why would Stark Knights want to see him dead? 

“Who told you to-” 

His question was cut short when the Knight suddenly toppled over and fell to the ground. Behind him stood Cap. “Less chatter more clatter” 

The Widow jumped by them. “Like clatter with your swords, Iron Man,” she explained. “Cap thinks he’s so funny when he’s really not.” 

He ran over to the Captain, blocked two swords on his way and fought off a third when he arrived at where the Captain stood. “You didn’t tell me your secret identity either. I think this is fair and square.” 

“He’s got a point there, Cap!” Widow said and Tony turned around to grin her.

Cap didn’t look too amused and tossed his shield over Tony’s head. At first he thought the Captain meant to hurt him but when he turned around there was a knight that the shield hit. Oh. He retrieved the shield and handed it back to the Captain. “Nice throw. Like the shield.”

Cap huffed and squared his shoulders, but Tony saw the hint of a smile in his eyes. After that, he turned around and got back to the fight.

“Can’t really blame him for keeping his secret identity a secret!” the Winter Knight shouted from his right. “We did too.” Tony didn’t think that the others would be on is side but he’s definitely positively surprised. “Even though it makes our work, our words and our entire existence a bit inconvenient.” Tony winced at that.

“Yes, but-” the Captain tried to reply.

“And he did tell you as soon as possible,'' the Widow remarked.

“He did not!” Cap shouted, enraged and that briefly stopped everyone else from commenting. “You could have at least told me before you devoured me!” he hissed.

Despite the situation and the Knights attacking, Tony still laughed. 

“Devoured?” he asked. The other Avengers laughed awkward laughs. Even the Hulk who apparently didn’t talk as much during battles, rather focusing on ripping people apart, laughs a loud goofy laugh.

Underneath the black cloth, he swore the Captain blushed a little bit.

“I was going to,” Tony tried to reason again, voice a bit lower, so that not all of the other Avengers could overhear their conversation. “But then you started to…  _ devour me _ and it slipped my mind!”

“Too much information,” the Hulk growled.

“Then don’t listen-”

“-stop listening!” Tony and Cap shouted in unison.

Talking was getting harder to do anyway as there were a lot more Knights and the Avengers weren’t in the best shape. The whole group continued to work though even though it still seemed as if they were close to losing. Fighting next to the Captain was great though. They fit together perfectly, complementing each other in the best of ways. Cap was brutal but not in the Hulk-way but calculated, brutal and precise. Tony on the other hand, was an impulsive kind of calculated. Calculating the risk but then improvising. It was perfect and it worked. 

As he fought, Tony saw he had a bit of an advantage because he trained with these Knights for most of his life. The thought was intrusive and he felt nauseous thinking about it. Why he had this advantage. He closed his eyes for a moment willing the sick feeling to go away when suddenly there was an arrow in the soldier before him. First he thought, what a dumbass, got killed by one of his own people. Then he looked around and noticed that most of the Knights now had arrows through their necks, head, chest, …

They fell almost simultaneously, comically. “What just--” he started but a shout interrupted his thoughts.

“I had a really terrible night and just for once in my life I want to sleep in and wallow in my self-pity, DAMMIT!” 

Above the inn, Hawkeye stood, the bow in his hand still drawn. He looked tired and done with everyone’s business, while at the same time deadly although he only wore a bedsheet around his waist.

“You couldn’t have done that twenty minutes ago?” the Winter Knight shouted up to him. Tony winced when Hawkeye shot an arrow to a knight right next to him.

“You shut your damn mouth hole,” Hawkeye shouted and proceeded to jump down the inn, rolling to dampen the impact, and with one skilled shot, killed the last knight standing. After that impressive combo, he stood up and turned to go back inside the inn. “Today sucks. I’m going back to bed,” he announced.

“Well, someone is in a bad mood,” Tony joked but the others weren’t that amused. “Tough crowd.” He put a hand on his hip and looked around the mess they made. When the battle stopped, the villagers had started to come out of their houses and looking around warily.

The Captain was already shouting orders again. “Hulk, Thor, carry out the soldiers in this area. Winter Knight you get the few further down. Widow, help the village men with cleaning up the arrows, and rubble. Iron Man, look for damage at the houses. Everyone report in half an hour.”

Without another word, everyone went to work. Everyone but Tony though. “What makes you think you can just give me orders? I am not one of your soldiers.”

Cap fixed him with a hard, angry stare and  _ oh _ , he should have just kept his mouth shut. “On a different thought I could j--” he waved a hand vaguely towards the houses.

“If you’re too good for us now, Prince,” Cap interrupted him, “you are free to go whenever you like.”

Now Tony felt like shit. The Captain still stared at him hard and angry, a challenge in his eyes. He’s testing if Tony is worthy of his group. He’s testing him. Tony is small but full of spite so honestly he couldn’t decide if he wanted to prove him right or wrong. Deep down he knows what he wants. He wants the Captain. Wants more of last night, but also wants more nights at the bonfire, more fights next to him, feeling safe that he got his six.

Finally he crumbles a bit. “I’m sorry,” he finally admits. “I did want to tell you before we… went to bed last night.”

Cap’s stare softens and he doesn’t sound as cold when he says, “Let’s clean up the village first, then we’ll talk.”

Sighing he thanks God and sends off a quick prayer before going over to the houses to start the repairs.

\--------------------------------

It did not take too long to clean and repair the village, though Hawkeye stayed inside the inn. Tony thinks that maybe the Captain will say something about it, or go get him himself, but he doesn’t. The rest of the Avengers just sweep quietly, carrying bodies and repairing roofs. The villagers help them as best as they can even though Cap insisted on multiple occasions that they can do all of this on their own.

When they finish up, Tony was close to exhaustion. The Winter Knight and Cap looked the same, both falling onto the benches on the main square. The Knight even put his head on the blonde’s shoulder. Tony swallowed his jealousy and sat across from them on a bench. The others followed suit. They remained silent for some time, eating the bread Desidre, the village’s best cook, made for them.

A loud yawn broke the silence and Tony looked up to see Hawkeye walking toward them, stretching and yawning loudly. He was back in his bard clothes; high boots, linen shirt with rolled up sleeves and a long jerkin with way too many leather straps. His bow was nowhere to be seen, as he switched to his lyre again. 

“I had  _ the _ best sleep, lads, how was your morning?” he asked, way too chipper.

Everyone turned their heads slowly in Hawkeyes direction, wearing the same exasperated expression on their face. 

“So what happened when I was gone? Bucky got someone pregnant again?” Hawkeye sniggered.

“That has not happened before, for the record,'' Cap said with a glance towards Tony, “ _ He  _ has something to tell everyone.”

Tony cringed, no more beating around the bush anymore. “I am Tony Stark,” he said feeling a bit more confident than when he first said it to Cap. The others had seemed pretty supporting earlier. At Hawkeye’s blank stare he added: “ _ Prince _ Antony Stark.”

Hawkeye spluttered around the coffee he was drinking. “You’re who?” Then he looked around the other Avengers. “Well this is awkward, isn’t it?”

Everyone’s eyes grew huge, like they forgot something and just now remembered. The Hulk made a ‘stop’ motion with his hands as the realisation hit him. “Oh yeah, because you all rob and hate my people and other folks like me”, Tony concluded. The group visibly relaxed a bit. Weird.

“Yeah… that,” the group exchanged glances with Hawkeye, silently communicating through their eyes. 

Tony felt a bit left out, like he felt all his life. During the fight it felt like he finally belonged somewhere, like he could belong to this people, to Cap’s Avengers. He bit off his bread and stared at the ground. He would probably never really fit with them. He was spoiled and rich, everything they fought against. He didn’t fit with the royals, he didn’t fit with the commoners and no apparently he also did not fit with the rebels. He laughed without humour and ate the last of his bread.

“That really is awkward, though,” the Winter Knight said and everyone went quiet for a while, not really looking at each other. 

“Tony,” the Widow finally said, “Thank you for opening up to us. We--,” she nudged the Captain who stared at his bread intently, “--understand why you didn’t tell us at first, and we’re glad you trusted us. The Captain is worried about our team becau-”

“-Because you endangered us by not telling!” the Captain suddenly bolted and stood up to emphasize.

Tony hadn’t thought of that actually. “I really am sorry. I didn’t think they’d recognise me out here.”

Cap sighed and visibly calmed down. “I am sorry for yelling. I don’t like it when things surprise me and I can’t predict exactly what’s going to happen next.” The Captain sat down again and fumbled around with his armour, seemingly uncomfortable talking about his feelings. “It surprised me, is all.”

“Oh man,'' the Winter Knight suddenly sighed, “I know who contacted them. I think we need to leave immediately.”

Everyone stared at him. “At the brothel. There were  _ Wanted _ pictures on the wall of a man resembling Iron Man. I was way too drunk to realise it at the time,” he whispered.

“Let’s clear out quickly then; we have to head west anyway towards the town,” Cap said already in his  _ Captain _ mode again: Analysing a situation, finding a quick solution and going through with it immediately. 

They stood up and the Widow came over to Tony. “It will be alright, Tony. We’re going to make proper introductions tonight.”

When he turned around the Captain is looking at him, not quite smiling and also not frowning. Tony counted it as a win.  _ Maybe it will be alright after all _ , he thought.

#  8.

“Seriously, you’re great with the bow and arrows, why don’t you use it more often?”

They were on their way west towards the bigger town. The issue of Prince Stark was being avoided at all costs, so Tony tried to ask a few questions to lighten the mood and keep conversation going. Thor disappeared after they left the village but promised to meet them tonight at a designated resting place. The Hulk was still looking for the special herbs for Tony’s operation and Hawkeye was, for once, not annoying the Winter Knight, instead spending the time talking with Tony. The Captain walked a bit further away with the Widow, quietly arguing with her.

“It’s…,” Hawkeye hesitates and scratches the back of his neck, “-complicated.” 

Tony was interested but doesn’t press, not wanting to push his luck.

He gets rewarded by Hawkeye sighing and telling more of his story. “My name is Clint. Clint Barton.”

As if hit, the Captain turned around, anger flaring up behind his eyes. “Hawkeye, what are you doing?” he demanded.

Yet Hawkeye only shrugged. “I trust him, Cap. He fought his own people for us. I think he’s worthy of our trust.”

Tony couldn’t suppress the small satisfied smile that creeped onto his face. “Thanks, man.” He puts an arm on Hawk--Clint’s shoulder. Clint smiled back at him and Tony thought he just made his first real friend out here.

“He’s not going to fuck you, Clint. You can stop making heart eyes.”

The Winter Knight snarled from his side. He’s almost sulking, walking slowly beside the horse he’s holding on a leash. An awkward silence settled over them, after the outburst. Tony removes his hand from Clint’s shoulder and looks at the Captain. Cap is already looking at him apologetic, while Clint is just rolling his eyes. 

The Widow, always trying to bring harmony between them, says, “Let’s just cool off, and not talk until we get to the resting spot. Judging by the sun and the size of the river it’s only another hour. So shut up, boys. Tonight we’ll talk like real adults do.”

\-------------

Surprisingly, the Captain accepted his apology and talked rather civilly with him on the way to their agreed spot to meet with Thor. That is until he brought up the Winter Knight again. 

Hawkeye and the Winter Knight kept bickering about everything while setting up the fire. “What happened between them?” Tony asked the Captain while they set up the last tent together.

“None of my business. And frankly, none of yours,” he said simply.

“Cap, you know I’m--” he started but the Captain beat him to it.

“Sorry?”

“...Yes…”

“You don’t have to keep apologizing. I told you, I accept your apology. I can understand your reason and if I was in your position…,” he hesitated for a moment, “I would do the same.”

“That night… meant a lot to me.  _ You _ mean a lot to me, Captain. I hope we can resume where we left off…,” he smiled a hopefully flirty smile and winked for good measure.

It seemed to work because the Captain blushed and straightened out the fabric of the tent with a bit more force than necessary. “That would indeed be nice.”

Tony stood up and towered over the Captain who still kneeled on the ground. It was a glorious sight when he looked up to the Prince. He put a hand in Cap’s hair, stroking softly as the other man almost melted into his touch, a small content sigh leaving his parted lips. Today was a rough day. They slept little, fought the Stark knights, fought with each other and walked about 25 miles to top it all off. Slowly he massaged the Captain’s scalp who leaned against the Prince’s legs and closed his eyes. It was an intimate moment and he was glad Cap still trusted him enough to let it happen.

“It has been a long day, Captain,'' Tony said finally. Cap hummed in reply but didn’t open his eyes. Keeping his hands in the other man’s hair, he kneeled down next to him. “Let’s have an early night, hmm?”

Cap opened his eyes and looked at Tony all hazy eyes and soft smiles. “Clint was right.” Tony noticed the Captain using Hawkeyes real name, but didn’t comment on that. “You fought your own people for us today. You helped the villagers selflessly even though they betrayed you.”

“Do you trust me?” Tony dared to ask.

“I do.”

Feeling relieved, he let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. A big smile broke out on his face and he couldn’t help himself, not anymore. He put his other hand on Cap’s face and pulled him in for a rough kiss. Their lips met with almost too much force, teeth clicking together for a moment but Tony didn’t care. The Captain slowed them down after a while, his hands finding Tony’s waist, rubbing small circles with his thumbs. After a moment Cap broke the kiss, but kept smiling.

“Thought we were making introductions for real tonight.”

Tony’s eyes widened. “For real? Are you sure Cap?”

“It’s … Steven. Steven is my Christian name. Steve for short,” Steve said slowly.

“ _ Steve _ ,” Tony whispered breathlessly. It was a beautifully fitting name. “I hope you won’t regret telling me that.”

“I will not,” Steve smiled shyly. “I like it when you say my name.”

Surprised Tony’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline.  _ Oh, so that’s how it is. _

“Hey Lovebirds”, the Widow shouted from behind them, “Thor just arrived and the fire is ready. Let’s eat something.”

Steve stood up and offered Tony a hand. “Yeah, Let’s.”

He kept on holding Tony’s hand until they sat down by the fire and even then, he didn’t stop touching him. With his hands and knees, always touching Tony’s back, hands, thighs, face.

Tony loved every minute of it.

The rest of the Avengers ate, chatting amongst themselves until Steve finally broke the chatter.

“I told Tony my real name,” he said and that silenced the group, everyone looking shocked to the core. Clint was halfway through eating his rice, the wooden spoon hovering in the air, his mouth open. The rest didn’t look any better. The Winter Knight spluttered around his mead and even the Widow raised an impressed eyebrow. 

“Steve,” the Captain, now Steve said. “Just Steve.”

The situation relaxed a bit. Tony wondered if Steve’s last name was something important. Maybe he was royal as well, maybe a third cousin from someone his father had a feud with or if he simply didn’t want to tell. Tony didn’t care at all, he was just happy that he shared at least something.

“I’m Natasha”, the Widow said, holding a hand out for him to shake.

Thor beamed at him. “My name is Thor, the god of thunder! I have nothing to hide.”

Tony looked around the group, checking if they had a secret agreement to kid him. Well, Thor it is then.

“You can’t call yourself a god, Thor… that’s blasphemy.”

Everyone stared at him as if he had grown three heads. “What?”, he asked defensive.

“You are a man of science, Tony. You believe in God?”, the Hulk ask incredulously. Tony took a double take upon hearing these words. They didn’t believe in god? 

“Of course I have faith. There is no other option. He is there whether you want it or not,” he stated. “I’ve had my troubles with god, especially because of my interest in science. My father thinks most of my ideas are blasphemous. But he has a really good relationship with god. And I know participating in the Crusades wasn't great, but he really believed he was saving these people.” He felt a bit woozy after his rant. He didn’t truly believe all of it, but defending his father was somehow his default mechanism.

Thor smiled at him though the others didn’t. “I do believe in god, my friend! I believe in lots of gods! Most of them aren’t as great as they make your god out to be though. My brother for example…”, Thor said, shaking his head and took a huge gulp of mead.

He looked at Steve who whispered in his ear, “We really are not sure if he’s insane or truly a god.” Tony became wide eyed, gaping at Steve. A god? How could they think that? He looked at Thor again, sitting there in his red cape. “There is only one god and he sure doesn’t dress like that.”

The Hulk, apparently overhearing their conversation sniggered. “If he’s a god, he’s a puny god. That’s for sure.”

Thor looked so whole-heartedly affronted that Tony thought it almost looked cute. “What do you know, grass man?”

“It’s herbs, Thor you know that,” but the Hulk still laughed. “I’m Bruce by the way,'' he said in Tony’s direction. “Nice to meet you, grass man,” Tony laughed, loving the nickname already.

He looked at the Winter Knight, who finished another goblet of mead. “Bucky,” he slurred.

“Okay, now you’re really kidding me. What kind of a name is Bucky?” he looked at Steve hoping he would be in for some teasing but he just smiled a sad smile.

“I gave him that nickname.”

“Oh. I mean what kind of name is Bucky? A great one! A name worthy of a king definitely…” he babbled, trying to cover up his faux pas and raised his own glass of mead to a toast. Steve shook his head but he was laughing.

When Clint started strumming his lyre, he suddenly remembered that he hadn’t sung all day. The week he had spent with the Avengers taught him that even when everyone was down and tired, Hawkeye was the last man standing, still singing. He always thought it annoyed him but it was very refreshing hearing him sing again.

_ “They’re sharing a drink they call loneliness, but it’s better than drinking alone.” _

“Herlᴓv!”, Thor belted, “I’ll drink to that!”

They all raised their glasses, Steve’s goblet filled with water as always, and took big gulps of mead.

“You know,'' Tony remarked, after a sip, “You could have told me your names a week ago. I don’t want to sound like an asshole, but I wouldn’t have recognise them anyway.” 

The Avengers looked at each other awkwardly. 

Tony laughed, thinking he got them. “I understand, it’s okay. I like nicknames.”

Steve stood up abruptly, leaving Tony cold and already missing his presence. “I’m going to go … pee”, he finished lamely and walked over to the woods. Tony’s eyes followed him confused.

Shrugging he looked up and his eyes fell on Clint who smiled at him. Clint was the only one to give him his whole name. It was nice, he thought, having a friend. Tony was not great at making friends. Everyone wanted to be his friend in the castle, he was the prince after all, but none of them were real. He had Rhodey but after he became a knight, they could not have a lot of contact anymore. He hoped they can pick up where they left off when he returns.

“I missed hearing you sing today, Arrows. You okay?” He hoped he didn’t overstep his boundaries but Clint just smiled wider. 

“You like my singing?”

“Yes of course. You have a lovely voice.”

Clint’s eyes grew a bit sad when he said a small thank you. The great badass bard Hawkeye was suddenly shy? Haven’t the others told him that his voice was great?

“You don’t have to humour him,'' Bucky snarked. 

Clint turned his eyes away from Bucky, but Tony saw hurt flashing in them, before Clint rolled his eyes. “Drunkard”, Clint muttered. He stood up, stretching and stalked over to where Tony was sitting. He then plunked down next to Tony, though a bit too close for his liking.

“What do you want to hear?,” Clint smiled and raised one eyebrow. He winked at Tony and something clicked. Was he flirting with him? Confused Tony looked around the fire. Thor and Bruce were in a hushed conversation about who was the stronger Avenger. Bucky fixed him with a death stare, but the guy always looked broody, didn’t he? Natasha looked back at him, skeptical but amused.

Not knowing what to say he just opts for, “Surprise me.” And Clint winked at him  _ again _ . 

So he hadn’t imagined that. He looked across the fire only to see Steve standing behind Bucky looking at him but he was too far in the dark, so Tony couldn’t really make out his face. Tony still tried to communicate with the dark Steve shaped figure. Is this a test? Where they testing him? Clint doesn’t seem the type and he really wished to call him his friend. 

Clint started to strum a few chords. “What’s it like being a king and all?” he asked.

“Lonely,” Tony said unprompted and then quickly wished he hadn’t. The Avengers, all coming from poor backgrounds, fighting just to have something to eat, probably didn’t want to hear about the lonely rich kid. 

“I know of my privilege,” he added, “doesn’t make it any less lonely. My best friend was my manservant.” He smiled a sad smile remembering Jarvis.

“Well”, Clint smiled at him, more earnest than flirting now, “You’ve gained six new friends now.”

Tony smiled back,  _ maybe he had _ .

Now Clint’s strumming became faster, a nice rhythm. He kneeled on the tree trunk they were sitting on, facing Tony and started singing. “ _ My love”, _ he began in a very low voice.

_ “My love _ !” Tony looked to the others to find Natasha, Thor and Bruce already dancing and shouting the words. Bucky wasn’t moving, just kept on staring. Behind him, Steve wasn’t moving as well, just standing there, in the darkness. It was almost disturbing to him.

Clint kept on singing to him and smiling widely.  _ “I’m in paradise whenever I’m with you...” _

Clint sang beautifully, the others shouting at times. Thor held two wooden spoons in his hand and started thumping a rhythm with them. It sounded really nice. Natasha stood up and went around the tree trunks towards Steve and pulled him closer to the fire. Steve looked uncomfortable at first, swaying his shoulders but shooting uncomfortable looks towards Bucky at times. After a while Nat and Steve started dancing together and Tony felt a shot of happiness run through him as he saw Steve loosened up a little and smiled. The smile suited him so well.

_ “I know you heard it from those other boys”, _ Clint sang, nodded his head towards the Avengers and stood up.  _ “But this time it’s real, it’s something that I feel and…” _ He came even closer to Tony until he was able to put his left foot on the trunk next to Tony’s waist and leaned down. In any other situation he would be positively uncomfortable, but he had a nice amount of mead, was feeling warm and loose in the best way and was generally just so  _ happy _ to have a friend. 

_ “And if it feels like paradise running through your bloody veins, you know it’s love heading your way.”  _ Clint was wiggling his butt, leaning down and singing in his face all happy and loud. Feeling giddy and young, Tony laughed out loud, too. It really felt like paradise.

_ “Paradise, hold on hold on”, _ he sang and motioned with his head towards Tony’s hands. Tony grinned but shook his head. He was entirely comfortable sitting where he was and watching. Also he’d rather dance with Steve anyways.

Tonx craned his neck to get a better look at Steve and saw he was still dancing with Natasha, seemingly unworried about him. It wasn’t rational but Tony was not a rational man, so he chugged down another goblet of mead and wrapped his hands around Clint’s neck.

It was awkward because the lyre was in the way and Clint wasn’t Steve and Tony didn’t want to play games but maybe he did and Clint laughed all nice while singing. The others joined in singing, stood up and then joined them dancing around the fire. He felt Steve eyeing him weirdly, and  _ oh _ that was jealousy in his eyes. Tony smiled to himself, _ maybe he won their little game _ , and then loosened one hand around Hawkeye’s neck to take Steve’s in his. Steve hesitated for a moment but then smiled shyly, giving him one of his earnest grins and sung low and sweet, “ _ You know it’s love heading your wa-a-y _ .”

They danced another round and then Clint finished with a belting chord and then bowed. Tony started clapping and everyone joined in. Thor even let out a little “Whoop Hawkeye!”

Clint smiled all wide and happy until he looked at something behind Tony and his smile froze. “Thank you, thank you. I know I’m brilliant don’t stroke my ego to too much.” And with that he sat back down.

“That was honestly the best thing I’ve ever heard,'' Tony said more to Steve than to Clint, but he really meant it. However, with the music done, he now found himself lost in Steve’s eyes and he couldn’t bring himself to look away.

Steve was the first to break their little world, as he looked away and blushed a bit. “Yeah, real great song Clint,” and also sat down again, on the opposite side of Clint. Tony saw the two of them staring at each other.

Are they for real? Making Tony decide if he wants to sit next to Steve or Clint? He rolled his eyes and sat himself next to Natasha. 

“Good choice,'' she said side eyeing him. He looked around the fire and again, Thor and Bruce sat opposite of him and Natasha and … was Bucky gone?

Probably sleeping, he was drunk as hell earlier.

Clint started singing a slower song and they relaxed again. “Clint’s a great friend,” Nat tells him in a hushed voice. “He’s also sad, a sap and very destructive.”

“I know what that’s like,'' he whispers back.

“I figured,'' she said and smiled. “Just don’t make our dear ol’ Captain too jealous with your new buddy.”

Tony gaped at her. “What is up with you and reading people?”

“Well, I think I’ll call it a night,'' she announced loudly. Thor and Bruce hummed in agreement and stood up too. Clint didn’t move, he just strummed and sung a quiet sad song.  _ “Have I found you? Flightless bird, brown hair…” _

Steve was already out of his seat heading towards the medical tent. Tony quickly followed him. 

“Hey”, Tony asked softly, “Do you care to stay for a dance?”

Steve looked unsure for a moment, looking around, but then gave a slight smile towards Tony and took his hand. “Yes, sure.”

Tony guided them closer to the fire again and put his hand on Steve’s shoulder, while Steve put his on Tony’s waist. They swayed like that for a moment, Tony’s head on the Captain's chest, breathing quietly. The fire slowly died, dimming everything in a soft red glow while Hawkeye strummed slowly. It wasn’t perfect, for he was only starting to write that song, but it was peerless in its own way.

“Do you,” Tony began after a while, “want to stay in my tent tonight?”

Steve lifted his head from where it was perched on Tony’s and looked over briefly to Hawkeye. He then slowly grabbed Tony’s hand from his shoulders and gave it a small kiss. “Not tonight.”

Tony tried and failed to hide his disappointment. “Oh okay.”

“I should go to bed.”

Steve kissed his head again and turned to walk towards the infirmary tent again.

Well, that could have gone better, but all in all he still counted tonight as a win.

\----------

He woke up just before dawn and looked around in confusion, he never woke up that early. 

“Hey, sorry to wake you.” Tony looked up to see Steve kneeling at the entrance of his tent, smiling shyly.

Still sleep deprived, Tony didn’t know if he was still dreaming or not. “Am I dreaming?”

“No, no I’m sorry, I just couldn’t sleep anymore. All alone I mean”, Cap added the last part quietly. “I know Hawke- Clint, has a beautiful voice. He’s a nice looking lad, too.”

Tony stared at him, now convinced more than ever that this was a dream. “Wha- I need one of Bruce's stronger tea’s for all of this. Why are you telling me this right now?”

Behind his back he pulled out a metal cup, hot steam coming off of it. Tony took it greedily, thanking him and drowning the hot steaming tea quickly. “But Clint doesn’t bring you tea, mh?” Steve whispers.

He set the cup down and stared at Steve for a moment longer, waiting for him to elaborate. Slowly he lifted an eyebrow. “Steve, what are you saying?”

“I know he’s funny and he can sing and make you laugh. But I’m pretty nice too an-”

Tony couldn’t help himself, he laughed at the absurd situation and put his hand on Steve’s. “Are you jealous?”

“No, of course not. You can be with whoever you want to be.”

Tony laughs. “Yes you are jealous! I can't believe it.” And then: “Come here.” He made grabby hands for Steve and the latter finally gave in and surged forward, putting both arms around Tony.

“M’sorry,” he mumbled into Tony’s neck. The Prince kissed the side of his face and sighed. That could have escalated, Steve must be even more insecure than Tony.

“Let me see just how sorry you are”, Tony teased, making Steve’s cheeks redden.

#  9\. 

“Do you ever want to go back?”

They were on the road again and it will be about a week until they reach the town. Tony walks beside Steve, holding his hand with one of his and Yinsen’s leash in the other. “Go back where?”

“Back to your kingdom? To the Castle?” Steve asked.

“Yes, of course I will.”

Steve looked momentarily taken aback. “What? I thought you said you turned your back on royalty when you fled?”

Tony looked at him with narrowed eyes, “No, I fled because my future was predicted until my last breath. Because my father didn’t believe in my projects.'' He pointed to Yinsen’s saddlebags, that were filled with the metal clutter he had showed to Steve the day they met. “He manipulated me and threw me into the dungeon. I fled because I was to marry someone I never met, for money I never wanted, to reign over a realm my father didn’t care for. That doesn’t mean I’m going to leave my people behind, Steve.”

“You’re not leaving them behind, you’re just… helping them from the inside, instead of from above.”

Tony smiled a sad smile, of course Steve didn’t understand. “I don’t blame you for your view, Steve. You just never happened to have that privilege to actually help people, to make big changes for a whole realm. What you’re doing is great,” he added when Steve frowned at him, and kissed Steve’s hand. “It’s really great, with the resources you have. But when I’m king, I’ll have different kinds of resources. I can change the world... Well, at the very least my realm. And with my new technology, I can bring it to prosperity again.”

Steve just stared at him.

“Yes, I know, I know. First I have to actually invent this new tech, and make it work. Then I’ll have to have very good advisers. I’m good at building, not making business contracts. But it  _ will  _ work, I know it will.”

When the Captain continued to just look at him, he grew uncomfortable, felt like he had to prove something and kept on blabbering.

“I know it will be complicated with us, if you want to pursue …  _ us _ ,” Tony stammered, “but it can work. The king usually has a close knit group of knights, for me that can be the Avengers, and my other knight Rhodey-- you’ll love him once you get to meet him, you’re both so righteous. you have insights on the people, you can help me redistribute the wealth and land, keeping everyone safe, destroying Hydra again…”

“No,” Steve said suddenly, interrupting his rant.

Tony stopped too, and said, a little shocked, “... No?”

“No, I can’t do that. I’m no b…uilt for royalty. I can work best from the inside. I’ve fought against reigning from above my whole life.” Steve’s hands were shaking, and his eyes were fixed on the ground. “You make it seem so easy, leading from above. But it’s not. People are corrupt, you can’t control everything and everyone. People with power want even more power and there is nothing you can do to stop that. For me, the only solution is to fight for the small people directly, personally, who can’t fight for themselves.” Steve’s breath hitched and Tony wasn’t sure what he was getting so upset about. “Even when presented with an opportunity to lead a realm, I can’t do it. I wouldn’t do it and I truly am sorry about that Tony.” 

“But Steve…” he started. Steve was really shaken up about this. Well, Tony thought, this was Steve’s life’s work after all. He founded the Avengers, brought them all together, made strategies, plans and all against the monarchy. Against the system.  _ His _ system. “You’re made for leadership. You’re a natural.”

Steve huffed. “I’m really not.”

“But you _are_. And I believe you can be a just ruler one day. Someone who knows the people, and who listens and understands them.A king should listen to his people, try to understand their point of view. It’s their life, they should have a choice in deciding. And I firmly believe that that’s something we can do for my people, together.” 

Steve stiffened at that. And Tony hesitated, thinking he probably overstepped a bit. He was talking about a life way into the future, talking about marriage and staying with Steve forever. They have been together for just two weeks. Then again, Tony always had a go big or go home mentality that other people have found infuriating.

“I’m sorry, Steve, I always plan way ahead in the future. I’m not saying, marry me right now and help me run my kingdom when I get it back, I’m just saying it’s a possibility and … I’m just saying a lot that’s it, I’m sorry.”

He tried to wind his hand out of Steve’s grip, feeling all awkward and sorry for himself. However the Captain just gripped his hand harder. “It’s beautiful, Tony. Your plan, everything. You’re the man I always wanted to be…” He grew quiet. “But I’m not and now I’m this and I can’t stop. I see the positive consequences our actions have immediately and I just know, I  _ know _ that someone needs to continue this. And that somebody's me. You don’t have to go back, Tony. It’s not your responsibility anymore. I do not want to keep you from something you want to do, but I will remind you it’s not something you need to do. We can use your help--  _ I _ can use your help, with your insight on the monarchy and the way they operate.” 

Steve looked at him hopefully and Tony almost felt bad. “Like I said, I understand where you’re coming from, but being a prince is a great obligation. I know I didn't ask for it but I was born this way and growing up means accepting that.” 

“I really don’t think so. If you don’t want to go back, don’t. Someone else will take care of business and bureaucracy and we can help from the inside.” 

Tony didn’t understand where all of this was coming from. The Captain stopped trembling and was now fixing him with that hopeful look again. He badly wanted to just give in and play vigilante with Steve for all his life. Yet being a prince comes with lots of benefits and also duty. He can’t just abandon his people for a man.

Steve was a hero, grew up poor and – Wait. Steve never said that he grew up poor. Steve never said anything about where he came from, what his parents did, what money meant to him…

“.. Where are you from, Steve?” the Prince asked.

Steve remained carefully still. “What do you mean?”

“That’s not a hard question, is it? Where are you from? A town, a village, what are your parents, what was your occupation before all this?”

“What is this, an interrogation?” Steve countered and Tony was honestly confused. Why won’t he just answer him.

“No, Steve, this is me, your …  _ me _ , asking you a personal question. You know so much about me and all I know is that you’re called Steve … and that you grew up with Bucky. That’s it.”

“I never told you I grew up with Bucky,” Steve’s voice was cold as his eyes. “How do you know that?”

“Nat told me, it’s not a big deal, I--”

A cold hard stare silenced him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, she just told me to not be jealous because you grew up together…” he stuttered.

“You invaded my privacy.”

“No, no- Steve it’s not like that. Honestly, she just told me, I didn’t ask.”

Steve bit his lip hesitating, then said “Okay...Okay, I believe you. Next time though, just ask me.”

Tony didn’t push and try to explain that he did ask but Steve didn’t tell him anything. Right now he was just glad Steve wasn’t mad at him.

Tony squeezed his hand and gave Steve a tight smile. He tried taking deep breaths and stroked Yinsen’s hair. The warm fur relaxed him instantly.

\---------------

“You caught me off guard.” 

The fire crackled quietly later that night, illuminating the clearing in the dark forest. The Avengers had already gone to bed leaving Tony and Steve alone at the fire. They didn’t have the time to talk about the incident earlier as it turned out one of the horses was ill and they had to go take care of that. Now with them alone at the fire, there was no way around the topic. 

Cap scared him with the way he acted earlier. The encounter reminded him of his father and the way he used to make Tony feel small without letting him know what he actually did wrong. He kept thinking about the discussion though, thinking back to the first time they met, when Steve told him that he couldn’t talk about where he was coming from. That he wasn’t raised in poverty but could understand what it feels like. 

“I shouldn’t have probed you like that. You told me you didn’t want to talk about your background but I thought…. With me telling you about mine, we could, I don’t know, share something more.” 

Steve looked into the fire, flames dancing behind his eyes. “I do not blame you for being inquisitive. The talk about our future scared me and made me feel trapped with no other recourse. I don’t like that feeling. I want to be with you, Tony, I do. But I can’t abandon the plan I made for myself years ago. And you, talking about duty and responsibility and going back to being a prince… something inside me just snapped and I should not have let it out on you.” 

Something rattled in the bushes a few yards away while a wolf howled in the distance. 

“Why do you not want to talk about your past?” 

“It’s complicated, Tony. It’s not like I do not trust you, because I do. But you being a prince… it makes this a lot more complicated than it should be. Especially our future together.” 

Tony can’t imagine a world where he just goes back to the castle and never thinks about Steve ever again. Whatever Steve did, whatever made him think he doesn’t belong in a castle, they can solve that. Tony knows  _ he _ can fix it.

#  10\. 

The sun hung low, casting golden beams along the treetops. They’ve covered a long way today, with only a few more days until they reach the town. Clint was dancing and singing all morning until they stopped at a saloon this afternoon for a quick drink. Ever since then they walked in silence again, having little conversation every now and then. Tony knows it’s because Bucky slept with that whore in the saloon and he kind of hated the Winter Knight for that. For all the little stabs he sends Clint’s way, he couldn’t help but feel protective of him, his first real friend out here. Moreover, the broody Winter Knight had always seemed sketchy, from the first time he met him. Something about his backstory didn’t add up … or added up in a way Tony was sure he heard about already. 

By this time, Bruce had most of the herbs together for the operation; the last thing he needed was a numbing herb. Tony told him it was okay, he could handle the pain, but Bruce insisted.

Now they were almost at their designated meeting point with Thor for their night camp, when two soldiers on horses passed them by.

“You know where the Pancho’s Saloon is?” the first one asked. The second one just stared at Bucky. 

“Yes, just follow the river for about three miles. I recommend Anais, great stamina,” Bucky said while giving them a wink.

The first made to leave but the second soldier paused. “Is that you, Kingslayer?” he asks.

Bucky narrowed his eyes. “Move along, Rumlow,” he growled.

“It  _ is _ him! The great Kingslayer,” Rumlow laughed.

Bucky shook his head several times, muttering to himself in a language Tony didn’t understand.

“What?” Rumlow laughed again, a mean smile on his face. “You always gloated about your great victory of slaying a St-”

“I said, fuck off,  _ Asshole _ ” Bucky interrupted him. 

While Bucky and Rumlow had a death stare contest, Tony turned to Steve. “Who is this? Is this a joke? Who did he kill?” 

In front of them Clint turned around, his eyes wide in shock, his face almost white. “ _ Holy -mother-of _ -”

Steve, apparently knowing what Clint’s muttering was about, silenced him with a look. “This is definitely not the time.” 

Natasha was at their side in an instant. “Well then, when is?” 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rumlow beginning to draw his sword. 

“When Bucky is not going to get killed at any moment — ENOUGH,” Steve belted. He had his shield up in seconds standing in front of Bucky. “You’re outnumbered. You had your fun, now move along.” 

The two soldiers moved along, not without muttering their last curses.

The mood changed. The Avengers were standing in a weird half circle, not really looking at each other, not moving, only processing what happened. 

“Why did he call you Kingslayer?” Tony asked when the two soldiers were out of sight, “Which evil king did you slay?” He laughed, unsure. He wasn’t convinced this was true. After all, knights made jokes all the time.

The Winter Knight just fixed him with one of his signature cold looks. No wonder they called him the  _ Winter _ Knight. 

“So,” Natasha said, breaking the silence, while brushing the hair of her horse. “This may be the perfect time for a little talk.” 

Tony waited, looked in all of the Avengers faces, but found nothing. They were all looking in different directions, apparently really not wanting to talk about this. “This Rumlow guy,” Tony tried, “he said you were a Kingslayer? That you slayed a Stark?” He knew that’s what the soldier wanted to say before Bucky cut him off.  _ St- _

“We are not talking about this right now, we have to meet up with Thor very soon,” Steve finally decided and urged them to keep walking.

Tony’s thoughts kept whirring. His grandfather, the great King Howard Stark the first, had been murdered, had been slain by some-

“So Tony,” Clint wrapped an arm around Tony, trying to lighten the mood again, “why is your horse named Yinsen? That’s an awfully odd name for a horse.”

Tony huffed a sad laugh, momentarily forgetting his train of thought from earlier. “Yeah, not a great name like Black Beauty, I know. He’s special though.” He ran a hand through Yinsen’s hair. Suddenly Steve was by his side again and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

“Yinsen was the man who saved my life.” Everyone turned to stare at him. “I was on a trip to the Long Island with my grandfather, the great just King Howard the First.” He smiled at the memory of his grandfather. He was the King Tony wanted to be when it was his time. He was just and fair, ruling with empathy and strength. The land had prospered, he was at peace with most of the kingdoms, and overall, he was a great grandfather to Tony. Jarvis was one of his closest friends, so after Howard the first died, he took Tony in like his own grandson. 

“I was about eighteen and it was a trip for pleasure. Nobody knew of it, I just wanted to see the old statues on the island. Yinsen was the manservant of my grandfather and we were pretty close too. He accompanied my grandfather wherever he went, even though he insisted that we could do it alone.”

Tony sighed and swallowed around the lump in his throat. “It happened on our way back. We were almost off the island when a man attacked. It was the 16 th of December, I remember it like yesterday… The man just… he was too quick. Killed my grandfather instantly. Yinsen couldn’t react fast enough. When he reached for me though, he …” Tony stopped, it happened years ago but it still stung every time he thought of it, electric waves shooting through his body, his lungs feeling like they were on fire but he willed himself to stay calm. “... He died protecting me. I rode home on Yinsen’s horse, his blood still on me. I wanted to…,” he stopped choking on his own words. 

“I wanted to bring them home, but the man was momentarily distracted and I had to take my chance…”

Tony hadn’t realised that they stopped. He was clutching Yinsen’s leash, like a lifeline, unshed tears prickling at his eyes. It was his fault, he persuaded his grandfather into taking him there without an escort. He wanted a normal trip with his grandfather, not the king. He killed— He was responsible— he— 

“Later they told me, it was a known bounty hunter. He just did it for money, you know,” Tojny kept talking, tears now rolling freely over his cheeks. He looked around the group and they all looked at him with the same sad look. Except for Bucky, who seemed to be looking everywhere but him.

“The story says that he only operated in the darkest of Winters,” he gave a wet laugh. Just like that broody Knight did. “They called him the…” Tony stopped. Looked at Bucky. Thought back to horrible that memory and something clicked. The Winter Knight looked nothing like the man Tony remembered but then again, it was years ago, the man was wearing a mask and he wasn’t called the Winter Knight, he was a Bounty Hunter, he was- “The Winter Bounty Hunter.” The words felt like fire in his mouth.

“But that doesn’t have quite the ring to it, has it?” he demanded to know, repeating the words Hawkeye had jokingly said the first time they made introductions. It felt wrong accusing Bucky of such a thing, but it made sense. The story Bucky told him, the story Steve wouldn’t tell him, refused to tell him. He quietly but forcefully let go of Steve’s hand and stalked towards Bucky. 

“Has it?” he whispered into Bucky’s face. Suddenly he was very calm, his mind going as fast as lightning, a thousand thoughts shooting through his head, trying to connect the points.

Bucky was determined not to look up at him.

“... Tony—” Clint started then hesitated before continuing, “ — he was brainwashed at the time. He probably doesn’t even rememb—” 

This was a confession. Clint just proved all his thoughts right.  _ He _ was right. Bucky - the Winter Knight - Bucky - killed him. His grandfather. 

“You shut your mouth!” Tony roared, his eyes never leaving Bucky. “Don’t defend your fuck-buddy. You know he will never love you. Or  _ will _ you, murderer!” He spat the last word into the Winter Knight’s face.

When Bucky didn’t show any reaction he turned around to Steve, who was still standing behind him, frozen at the sudden confrontation. 

“Did you know he killed my grandfather?” Tony whispered and eyes wide towards Steve. “Did you know he killed a king? That he was the kingslayer?” His voice was starting to turn hoarse from his ire. “Of course you knew, that’s what you didn’t want to tell me. It wasn’t the time. When would that time be?” Tony huffed. “Did you know he tried to kill me, too?” 

By now, the tears on his cheeks were drying up, leaving nothing but anger inside of him. Tony stood firm in front of Steve. 

“Did you?” Tony demanded.

“Tony, I— “

“ _ Did you know!?” _ Tony barked.

“Yes but—”

“Right,” Tony huffed. He felt like laughing, or crying, or hitting Steve in the face. Seeing as he did already try the first two he decided to do the latter.

His fist collided with Steve’s jaw and it felt so  _ good _ . Letting the anger leave his body. Steve hit the ground, catching himself with his hands. Bucky’s hands were on him in an instant, holding him in a headlock. Steve surged up, but Natasha ran forward and held both Steve’s hands behind his body. 

“Stop it, you two. Now!” she ordered.

Tony pushed his elbows into Bucky's abdomen and ducked himself out of the headlock. “You killed the one just king, Howard the first,” Tony cried, his fists clenching by his sides, wanting to just bury his fist in the head of this traitor but knowing he would not be able to make a dent.

“And you— ,” he turned around to face Steve again, “I trusted you.”

“Tony, he’s my friend!”

“...So was I.” 

There were tears on his face again and he hated himself for that. A headache creeped itself into Tony’s forehead, but he couldn’t stop now, there was still something else. The reason Steve was so cryptic with him. The reason Steve didn’t tell him where he was from, why he got mad when Tony found out he grew up with Bucky, why he averted all conversation about that and made it about Tony, why he understood what growing up rich felt like, growing up with duties. 

“But then again, you grew up with him, didn’t you?” Everyone was quiet, staring at Tony as he finally connected the dots. “The Winter Bounty Hunter grew up in royalty, did you know that? He was the Prince's best friend, until he lost him on a mission. He got abducted. Just like our little Bucky did. King Rogers searched for months. He didn’t find him, they say. I didn’t know about the King’s son though. Apparently he ran away; you told me. But I guess you should be familiar about running away, right Steve?”

The man in question looked at him with his mouth in a firm line. He looked like he was ready to deny everything Tony just said. To tell him that it was a freaky coincidence. That it wasn’t Bucky, it wasn’t him. Oh how Tony wanted to believe that it wasn’t true, still he knew. Everything made sense. The way he talked with Steve about his future. The way they  _ didn’t _ talk about the past.

“You all knew about this, didn’t you?” he looked around the Avengers. They still stared at him with sad eyes. “That’s why you were awkward at first, when I told you who I am.” 

“Not about your grandfather, Tony I would nev-” Hawkeye started to say, but Tony didn’t care anymore. 

He fixed Steve with a stare. “We were to be married. Did you ever care to tell me?”

Still, Steve didn’t move, said nothing. His eyes became glassy and his breath hitched but he stayed silent.

Tony scowled and then made a decision. 

“I am out of here,” he said and with two quick strides he was next to Yinsen and swung himself upon him.

“But Tony, your operation!” Bruce blurted out and then tried to stop him by standing in front of Yinsen.

“I can do it myself,” he snapped. He really wasn’t sure if he could, but he would try.

“Tony,  _ please _ ,” Steve finally spoke up and stared up at him. There were tears in his eyes as well and Tony almost felt bad. He hated seeing Steve cry. He wanted to make a quick joke, make him laugh, kiss him, but he couldn’t. He needed to go, now.

But first. “I’m not only going because of the lack of trust you all seem to have in me,'' he choked, “Or because that bastard killed my grandfather.” Tony looked at him in the eyes now, “You knew there was no future for us, Steve.” The liar, the one who looked him in the eye days before and wouldn’t tell him about his past. 

“You knew three days ago when you asked me if I wanted to go back. You could have told me there and then, maybe we could have talked it out. But the way I see it, you made it so you would have to lose nothing. That you planned for me to be only someone you knew once, the Prince who got away. You don’t get to be sad, Steve, when you never saw a future for us.”

He kicked Yinsen in the side to make him go. Fast. He ducked and tried to go even faster, deep into the woods, hopping over roots, dodging trees and branches. His eyes were blurry from tears and he almost couldn’t see where he was going. Glad that Yinsen was an intuitive horse and compensating, he still tried to make his horse go even faster.

Steve wasn’t going to follow him, he knew that now. The Captain wouldn’t leave his people behind. How ironic did that sound now. How could he be so blind? The signs were right in front of him. His father would be disappointed, he usually was very perceptive.

Steve was his betrothed. He knew the whole time,  _ the whole time _ , and didn’t tell him. He would sleep next to Tony, hold his hand, sing for him all while knowing, while Tony was left in the dark.

His chest hurt. He looked down to where his machine hid under the shirt. Riding was bad, Bruce told him. Especially riding as fast as Tony did know, shaking him up and down. He couldn’t stop though, couldn’t.

His thighs cramped. Yinsen whined after the first hour in full speed and Tony was forced to slow them down a bit. He felt tired and worn out, his head, thighs, chest, throat, all hurt. He couldn’t stop though. Knew the town would be another hour away, if he went full speed again.

“C’mon Yinsen”, Tony panted, urging his horse. “Do it for me, I know you can do it.”

He rode until the night almost fully engulfed them. Then, after what felt like an eternity, they were met with lights and noises that could only come from people and the warmth of a fire far away. 

They made it to the main square of the town, Yinsen coming to an abrupt halt. Soldiers came their way and Tony could distinctly remember being asked to tell them his name. Then his body gave in, he fell, and darkness surrounded him.

#  11.

Waking up felt like a deja-vù. Feeling like he died, came back to life and then died again. Coughing, he reached for his chest before resigning himself to feel the rest of his aching body. Everything hurt. His body felt both like it was on fire and ice cold and drowning, just like he did when he first awoke next to the Hulk.

Except now he was inside a house, on a nicely made bed, while a beautiful red haired dame stared at him with narrowed eyes. “Who are you?” he coughed.

Her eyes narrowed even more. “My house, my questions. Who are  _ you _ ?”

The bed suddenly felt too comfortable and his skin too hot for his body. Should he lie? Lying felt like the last thing he wanted to do after last night but telling the truth meant being kicked out of this comfort.

“I’m a blacksmith. My name is Tony,” was the answer he opted for. No real lie in there. He did operate as a blacksmith in the castle.

She could tell there was more to Tony’s story however. She asked him, “Then why were you running like you were being chased by bears, blacksmith? And what’s that on your chest?” She pointed at the machine on his chest. Instinctively, Tony moves to cover it.

“I came here to look for work as a blacksmith but also… I’m... dying.” 

He looked down at the machine where red angry lines marked his chest where the magnetic stone was carved into his skin. He really needed a stronger structure for that... 

“Look, I just need a blacksmith station for optimizing the …machine keeping me alive.” The Avengers were also going to come in a few days but Tony didn’t know if he even had that long. Judging by the throbbing pain in his chest, he doubted it.

The redhead considered that for a moment. “I’ll ask Richard what he thinks of your story,” she said before standing up and walking out of the room.

“Hey-he- Stop, Can’t I have your name at least? Where am I?”

She turned around again at his pleas. “You can call me Pepper. Just your luck, I handle the finances for the town's best blacksmith.” A woman handling their finances? He tried to be non-judgmental but he had to admit, that was pretty rare. She stalked out of the room, clear confidence written on her face and Tony decided that, yes, if any woman could juggle money, it  _ would _ be her.

He was still exhausted so he closed his eyes again for what felt like only a minute but the next time he opened them again, the sun already stood low, heading towards early evening when he opened them again. He must have slept the whole day. Suddenly he was startled by cold hands on his chest. 

“The fu—“

A tall dark haired man stared at him, raising his hands in a gesture of peace at his outburst. Then he held out his right hand for Tony to shake. 

“I’m Richard Parker, best blacksmith in town.” 

Tony shook his hand, still tingling from the shock of being woken up so suddenly. “You should be glad our Pepper found you before the Knights asked any questions. You could’ve died then.”

The man – Mr.Parker— eyed his machine again. “Now, tell me about this.”

Tony told him about the shard in his heart, about what he thought could hold it, about the optimisations, about everything. Parker understood and he was so glad to finally talk to someone who could keep up with him. Where he didn’t need to use simplifications.

He was also glad to find that Parker was also impressed. Pride shined behind Tony’s chest, as he thought at last, someone who appreciated his efforts.

“Pepper tells me you’ve also come looking for work?” Parker asked after Tony’s explanation.

“Yes, I was hoping that in exchange for work, I could maybe rent a bed and use the blacksmith station during the night. I’m great with metal, you wouldn’t regret hiring me.”

“You’re bright and you’re creative but can you wield a hammer? Forge a sword?”

Tony smiled. “Yes, yes I can. I won’t let you down. You can count on me! At any rate, if I’m not good enough I’m going to die anyway. No trouble for you.”

Richard shook his head incredulously but smiled nonetheless. “You’re going to be trouble I can sense it. At least I think you’ll get along with Peter.”

“Who’s Pete—,” Tony started but was interrupted by a loud scream.

“DAAAaaaa…”

A small creature came crawling through the door and grabbed for Richard’s pants. 

“Speaking of the devil,'' the man said and scooped the little boy into his arms.

“Say hello to Mr.Tony, Peter.”

The boy smiled shyly at Tony and tried to hide in his father's neck. “Peter…”, his father warned sounding stern.

“Hello,'' Peter said well-behaved but sounding scared.

Tony smiled at him but inside he was frowning at their dynamic. It reminded him a little of his own father, though Richard was more charming. A female voice came from downstairs: “Peter?” 

A woman with short dark hair entered the room, looking around. Her first look landed on Tony, studying him for a second before resting her gaze on Peter. “There you are! I’m sorry, Mr. Parker, he’s such a …,” she struggled to find a word before sighing and putting her hands on her waist.

Richards gestured to the woman. “Mr. Tony, this is Mrs. Parker, my wife.” 

Tony shot her a hopefully charming smile, considering the pain he’s under. Mrs.Parker takes the little boy out of her husband's hands and takes him downstairs again, quietly scolding him for running away.

“Like I said,'' Richard continued, “I think you’ll be getting along just fine.” 

Then he clapped his hands together. “Are you rested enough for me to show you your new work? If you impress me, you can have this room, and work at the station in your free time. If not, you’re free to go.” He gives the Prince a challenging smile and stands up.

Tony winces and sits up. “I think I can manage, thanks.”

They walked downstairs together and Mr. Parker shows him the shop, the great station, a big anvil and the furnace. He can work with this. The striker is a nice man called Ben and they get along immediately. He shows him the utensils and irons he can use. Mr. Parker gives him an easy task, first some welding and then forging a small knife. It’s nice, he thinks. He feels safe in a familiar environment and Parker seems to be at least as excited as Tony himself about metal.

He finishes the knife and hands it to Richard. “Good job,” he says. He sounded impressed and Tony let himself be proud. He’s been through a lot, made some wrong choices but this is where he always wanted to be. In a shop, making things with his own hands. 

“You’re hired.”

Mentally petting himself on the back, he smiles at Richard, before suddenly remembering— “Where is my horse!?”

Parker seemed taken aback for a moment. “Horse?” he asked. “Oh right, the horse you almost killed by over-exhausting it.” There was clear judgment in his voice and Tony felt sudden shame burning at his cheeks. He wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t think Yinsen could stand it.

“He survived?”

“Yes, he barely survived. He’s at the river grazing with our other horses.”

Tony fumbled with the machine on his chest. He needed to find a better solution, now. Or he won’t be there to see the Avengers arriving at the town.  _ Won’t be there to see Steve _ , a little voice whispered. Steve. His heart ached just thinking about him.

“Can I— ,” he asked Richard and pointed towards the anvil.

“Knock yourself out, Mr.Tony. My wife is making dinner in an hour and I will ask her to make enough for one more. Ben, are you staying?”

The two men started a quiet conversation while Tony got some papers and started sketching out the new designs for the machine. A big fault was that his armour didn’t fit over the machine. When this was done, he could try welding an armour that fit him … but he was already ahead of himself. First things first.

He spent the rest of that night sketching and making prototypes, only stopping for Mrs.Parker, when she got him some dinner. The pain in his chest gave him incentive enough to work through the night. 

Just before daybreak the next day, he slept finally slept a few hours, woke up, then went to work again. He barely thought about the past weeks, glad to be lost in work for once. 

The day goes by in a blur full of welding, forging, meeting some of the townsmen, keeping his mind busy. He almost makes it one day without thinking of Steve. Almost.

Once, a broad blonde man walked by the shop and Tony was hit with longing. He misses him so bad. Every bone of his body misses him. He doesn’t even know why. Steve has done nothing but lie to him, keep things from him and even then, after all of that, it didn’t matter. Tony knew there is no future, no way in which he can see himself with Steve.

He did, a few days ago. A few days ago he thought he could have made the Avengers his personal knights, could’ve ruled on his own when his father died. Adopting a kid. Then marrying Steve and settling down with him. It was perfect.

During that day and until late evening, the Parker’s little boy sat next to him, watching him. He didn’t say much, just watched Tony work and quietly doodled something onto parchment. In the evenings, Mrs. Parker always came and got him. Always without a fight. Three days go by like this. 

The fourth night he spent at the Parker’s home, he finished his project. He called it his Arc Reactor. It didn’t react, to be exact, but it was built to be someday. It did its job way better than the last prototype but it wasn’t all he wanted. He wanted energy, wanted the thing to work faster and better than with the magnet stones alone. It was almost dawn when he quietly knocked at Pepper’s door.

He knew it was unfit for a bachelor to knock on a lady’s room so early but an impulsive action led him to just removing his old reactor, so breathing and thinking was kind of hard. Reluctantly she helped him set in the new Reactor and when he told her that she just saved his life, she got all flustered and quickly went to bed again.

Making friends was still not his expertise.

\-----------

The Avengers were scheduled to come the next day and Tony’s stomach felt like it was being tied up. The people here needed the Avengers but Tony wasn’t sure if he could face Steve again so early.

He lied to his face, made him feel bad about probing into his past. Tony opened up to him, told him about his issues with monarchy, about going back, feeling lonely. All this time… Tony couldn't imagine what Steve had been thinking during their talks. 

Did he feel guilty? Did he want to tell him? Natasha urged Tony to tell him, did she do the same thing with the Captain? Did the Captain decide against it or was he looking for a better moment? There had been plenty of time for them to talk after Tont revealed he was Prince Stark. There also had been plenty of time for Steve to tell him about Bucky. 

He could understand that Steve probably wanted to have a good time, that a 'my friend killed your grandfather' conversation would have killed the mood. Although he thought Steve had understood that he wasn’t just in it for the intercourse. How could he think that after the beautiful days they had together, just talking and walking...

As he laid there on his hard bed staring at the ceiling, he thought back to the moment they parted.

Maybe he reacted too harshly, too quickly. He really didn't leave Steve any room for explanation. His primal instinct set in and he just wanted to punch his way out. He wished he had stayed for an explanation at least, An opportunity to talk about what that means for the future, with Steve being the Prince Rogers. Tony could have grieved, could have been mad about Steve not telling him and then they would have made up, would have...

Maybe he should have thought about his actions. He regretted the punch, definitely, but did he regret running away? If he was being honest with himself, not really. They needed some time apart to think, at least Tony did. 

And he did. He thought a lot about his future. What he's sure about is going back to the castle. Maybe in a few years, when conflict has died down between him and his father and the king wanted his son back. When the weapons make no money anymore. When the financial ruin is about the begin, then Tony will come swooping in and save the day. And he wanted Steve to be with him. His father would like him. His father would absolutely support his … alliance with prince Rogers because he initiated it in the first place. 

Suddenly, he wasn’t so angry, so resentful and mad at Steve anymore. Suddenly, he only wished for him to be here and talk. 

But the Avengers didn’t come that day. 

\-----

The first few days he stayed at the Parkers he spoke to no one except Peter and Ben, focusing on finally finishing his project. They formed their own little world in the shop, not even talking all that much. Pepper came down once in a while, talking about some numbers with Ben and looking over Tony’s shoulder to peak at his invention. She tried to look nonchalant, while walking around him and asking questions like

"What does this do?"

“Tiktik crrr,” Peter waved his little hands expensively in the air, mimicking the noises working with metal did. 

Without looking up, Tony nodded his head: "What he said."

Pepper laughed, so Ben laughed and eventually Tony joined in, too. It was nice, the group they formed. Easy. It almost felt like…. Home. 

After almost a week in though, Ben wanted to introduce him to some people around town and show him around.

Peter whined when Tony told him he should spend the afternoon elsewhere because Tony would be busy.

“I cannot take you with me, Peter. No, don’t look at me like that. You are an annoying churl and you will just cry when you want to go home or take a nap.” Tony sighed and picked at his eyebrows with one hand. Peter just stared at him with big eyes, so Tony said, “Yes, yes, okay, that could be a good excuse for me to go when I want to stop mingling. You make a good point there, maybe I will allow you to come with me this time.”

Ben stared at him, eyes wide, not understanding what had just happened.

“What?” he asked Ben. “Just having an insightful conversation with Petey here.” Then Tony took Peter into his arms, carrying the little boy with him. He knew the child would charm anyone into liking Tony, even the peasants that hated the likes of him. No one knew who he was, of course, but something about him apparently screamed nobility. And Peter loved to be carried around by Tony like that. Peter leaned against Tony’s neck, sucking his thumb and with the other hand he grabbed Tony’s linen shirt at the back.

While talking to the townspeople Tony noticed the fond looks some of them were shooting him. He felt the need to tell them it wasn’t his kid, and even started to imply that he didn’t even like Peter.

“Oh, is this your offspring, Mr.Tony?” Ms. Aberdeen asked him.

Peter looked at him with big round doe eyes, mouth going slack. 

“Oh no, no,” Tony paused. He did like the kid, what was wrong with him, why couldn’t he just say it. “Just some kid I found on the street.”

The lady didn’t understand he was joking and gaped at him. Tony grimaced, great start. Luckily Ben wasn’t as awkward as he was and stepped in.

“It’s the Parkers son, Richard and Mary.”, he filled in. “Tony’s working for them and … taking care of the kid sometimes.”

“Oh,'' she patted his arm. Her smile was warm and full of something sad. “I’m glad someone is helping them out. They had two daughters before him but they died. Malnourishment, they said. Now they make ends meet but nobody’s taking care of their little boy. We haven’t even the chance to see him out and about since they are so busy.” She grabbed Peter’s cheek and gave it a good squeeze making him squirm in Tony’s arms.

Over the day he heard lots of similar stories. Babies and children dying an early death in poverty, teenagers working hard with their parents but even then just barely making it through with the taxes they had to pay. Tony was surprised to hear just how many taxes are in effect, not remembering his father ever setting them that high. Did the tax collectors keep some change for themselves on the side? Was this his father's desperate attempt to get some more money from the kingdom?

Steve was right, the people needed the Avengers. They were dying, even in the bigger towns. Steve was right. Right now they needed the Avengers but Tony knew what he needed to do. That was… mind opening.

Tony spent a few hours with the townspeople and already had a completely different view of the situation. He couldn’t imagine what kind of perception Steve would have. He lived with and fought for these people for half his life.

And throughout all this, his thoughts always circled back to Steve. No matter how hard he didn’t want to think about him. How he just wanted to make him see the world with his eyes.

His hand was cramping when he realised he was clutching the paper with the outlinings of his bigger arc reactor in his right hand. Wincing, he straightened it out again and looked it over. It held potential, but something was missing. Something went over his head. 

“Looking good.” 

Suddenly there was a voice behind him and a hand lightly touching his shoulder. “Something is missing, right? Let me look it over.” 

Tony just stared while Richard Parker took the paper out of his hands and studied it carefully. This was a one of a kind prototype, he doubted that Richard, or any man for that matter, would find the solution for his problem. 

To his surprise, Parker pulled out some coal and drew a few dotted lines around the magnet on his sketch. “Use an alloy to stabilize the rodents, the magnets can work more efficient while the iron balances out the field lines, that are missing here.” 

Mouth hanging open, eyes wide and shock he blinks at Parker. “You’re shitting me.” 

“You have a great mind but you worked a bit sloppy on this.” Richard smiled at him though, like a stern but proud father. “Get your head straight and work this out. If you get this working, you’ll change this country forever. You will change agriculture, transportation, form a new industry…” 

Tony could almost see it. Create new jobs, make the life of these people so much easier… 

“Life is miserable. But I can see you have the brain to change that.” 

And just like that Tony decided he needed to go home again. When he finished the arc reactor, his father can’t write it off as blasphemy anymore. He will see the potential, at least when he talks numbers with him… 

He needs to focus.

#  12.

Steve wouldn’t come.

The sun crept into the doors of the blacksmith shop, bathing everything in a soft red glow. Tony laid in the middle of the shop on the ground, one arm draped lazily over his head. Groaning, he sat up, pinching the bridge of his nose, back aching from sleeping on the ground.

Steve wouldn’t come.

The one thought blasted through his head day and night. Steve was the first thing he thought of in the morning and the last thing he thought of at … whenever he went to sleep. It’s been four days since the scheduled meeting with the Avengers and the townsmen grew tense as they did not show. They had already heard weeks ago that the Avengers would be coming by and usually they kept their schedule. Tony felt so guilty.

He couldn’t … he wouldn’t believe that the Captain would abandon the people in need just because of a personal feud between him and Tony.

He brushed some dust and dirt from his pants, stood up and cracked his neck. Off to work again, he thought. His new armour that he made to fit with the arc reactor on his chest laid on the ground, the Stark colours, red and gold, glistening in the morning sun. He finished it yesterday with the help the armourer next door. Ben thought it was too flashy but Peter loved it, so Tony didn’t care what the old man thought.

The big arc reactor was coming along pretty fine, too, he just needed some final tweaking before he could try and catch lightning. How he would manage that was a problem for later, though.

After dawn, he heard little feet crawling down the staircase. “Food,” Peter said, holding out a fat slice of bread with some butter on it. Tony looked down Peter’s little fingers smearing through the butter as he was holding it out for him proudly.

“Thanks little man,” he smiled weakly, “put it on the side for me, would you?”

Peter stared at him some more before started munching on the bread himself, while looking at Tony innocently. Whatever, he’ll get himself some bread for dinner. First he needed to refine the outline of his reactor, before Ben came in later with their new projects in the afternoon. 

Ben came running in the shop much later, after dinner. Without turning around Tony sighed loudly. “You should have been here an hour ago, I really hope you have a good excuse.”

He turned around only to see Ben in childlike excitement. “What? Your cow got pregnant again?”

“The Avengers are coming!” he exclaimed. 

_ Oh _ . Tony’s breath caught in his throat. The Avengers.  _ Steve _ . They really came.

“Come on!” Ben took Tony by the arm and took him away from the reactor. “There is always a great feast when the Avengers come and I just know you haven’t eaten today!”

“Let me just…,” Tony wound himself free from Ben’s grip and lifted up an already teary eyed Peter. “You know how he gets when I leave him here alone.”

Ben looked at him with that weird fond look in his eyes. “Don’t say a word, Hammerguy,” Tony warned. He knew he got soft around Peter but he did not need to rub it in.

With Peter content on his arm, he made his way outside with Ben. There was already a small group of people forming when they came to the main square. He saw the two horses first, then Widow and the Hulk. Clint was already entertaining a group of kids with his lyre on the side. Then he saw him. All broad and tall, talking to the mayor and handing out the money they got from the collector. All of them were wearing their black masks again and Tony found himself smiling at them. The masks did absolutely nothing to really hide their identity.

Steve caught his eyes and Tony found himself in a sudden state of shock. He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. He waited so long to see him again but also thought he would never see him. And there he was. Staring at him from afar. Through all these people. Tony could almost see their future together, sitting next to him on the throne, discussing finances and business and taxes and …

A finger poking at his cheek brought him back to reality. “Dony?” Peter asked him.

“Let us meet the love of my life, Peteyboy,” he told him and stalked over to the Captain, who still stared at him or rather at Peter, in shock.

“What…? Tony!” Ben called after him and followed them.

Upon approaching the Avengers, Tony realised that he didn’t exactly leave at friendly terms and that there had to be a lot of tension still in the air, and there was. Thor, who wasn’t even present when the fight happened, saw him first and made his way over to him. Hawkeye saw him too and excused himself from the kids, leaving them to play with his lyre.

“Iron Man, it is great to meet you again!” Thor said and engulfed both him and Peter in a big hug. Peter squirmed for a moment but then put one of his little arms around Thor as well. “And you, small man!”, he shook Peters hand.

“You know them?!” Ben hissed behind him. Most of the townspeople were staring openly at him. Apart from Pepper and Peter, he didn’t really tell anyone about his little adventure with the Avengers.

“Tony, my man,'' he heard Hawkeye say from behind him and soon enough there was a hand on his shoulder. “You have been busy I see.” 

Tony turned around and found Hawkeye staring at him and Peter. He had an awkward grin on his face and Tony remembered the last thing he said to him.

“He is not … this tiny human is not mine, no,” Tony told him. “Hawkeye, I am sorry about what I said and…”

“Let’s not talk this out here, shall we?” Clint said. 

Tony knew he was right but he just wanted to get it out there.

“I know I just… how about we meet at the tavern when you are all done. I need to take care of the squirrel and then we can … talk.” He maneuvered Peter into on arm. 

Clint nodded. “Good idea. Now get out of here before Cap randomly combusts into fire.”

Tony turned around to look for Steve and found he was still talking to the mayor but stole glances at him every few seconds, with a weird look in his eyes.

“Yeah, I will go do that. Great to see you again Hawkeye, and you Thor.” He gave Ben a pat on the shoulders as he turned away. “I will see you later.”

He left for the shop again but once inside, took the door to the left for Pepper’s rooms. Peter was already falling asleep in his arms, as it was almost time for his nap. He found Pepper looking over the finances again, just like when he came to say goodnight to her last evening. He asked her if she was okay watching Peter for the afternoon, explaining that the Avengers finally showed up. She understood immediately. After all she knew what went down between them and assured him it was no problem. He kissed her cheek and joked that he would make her queen if nothing worked out.

“Just, more talk with your mouth and less with your body, okay Tony?”

He shushed her, kissed Peters cheek and practically ran out the door. He caught himself several meters away from the tavern and smoothed down his clothes. He needed to play this cool. He could do cool!

When he reached the tavern, Clint was already on the stage playing with two other bards, while Natasha and Bucky were at the bar watching him. A cold shudder went through him when he saw the Winter Knight. He had avoided thinking about him in the days he spent here but now he couldn’t anymore. He had to face the man that killed his grandfather and tried to kill him. He swallowed around the lump in his throat.

A man collided with his shoulders, rudely snarling something at him and Tony realised he had been standing in the doorway staring at the Knight way too long. After the cold shudder came the heat and anger again. He couldn’t breathe, his lungs contracting painfully and he turned around and headed out of the tavern again.

He was outside, looking back at the Parker’s house and stalking towards the shop again when he collided with broad shoulders.

“Tony.”

And there he was. His beautiful Steve, in his usual armour, minus the black cloth over his eyes, holding him by the shoulders and looking at him with a sad look.

“Steve,” he breathed and he almost wanted to cry. His mind had been a mess; he just saw the Winter Knight, he didn’t sleep well or ate anything today, and he missed Peter. Heavens, his life was a mess.

“Prince Stark, I am— ,” Steve— no,  _ Prince Rogers _ started to say, “— Can we talk? Maybe, about us?”

On the one hand Tony wanted desperately to talk to Steve, to make up, make out or just be near him again. On the other hand he knew talking meant finality. They were done and over it, no more thinking what if’s, no more imagining their future together. And yet— 

“Yes, okay, let’s go to the shop,” Tony answered and took Steve’s arm to guided him to the shop, where they could have some privacy.

“Oh,'' Steve said when they arrived at the blacksmith shop, “you finally found a real blacksmith’s station. Are you currently working on your project?”

Tony simply nodded and motioned for Steve to enter. Usually he could not shut up about his work but he decided this was not the right time nor place. They needed to talk about what happened first. What happened in the past and what will happen in the future.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/160239946@N03/49076029047/in/dateposted/)

( [Art by: Cachette](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cachette/pseuds/Cachette) ) 

They sat next to each other on the haystacks. Not touching, not looking at each other, and not saying anything.

Steve was the first to break the silence. “I am sorry, Tony. I should have told you, I just … I just did not want to ruin our friendship. Our … everything.”

It was a bad excuse and Tony knew it, but he was desperate. He was hurt, badly. Steve knew he didn’t have a lot of friends and Tony clinged to him instantly, to all of them, thinking he found friends that really liked him, despite everything. Then they betrayed him like it was nothing.

Tony couldn’t pretend that didn’t hurt, but he’d had worse. Those two weeks of having fun, friends and a sweetheart were great but apparently it was nothing permanent.

“Bruce was worried sick about you with your whole …,” he pointed at Tony’s chest where the new arc reactor sat in his place. “We all were worried. I knew you would invent something to keep you alive though. You are too stubborn to die.” Steve smiled a sad smile and lifted his hand, as to touch Tony but then thought better of it and put it down again.

“Someday it has to go, but for now I’ve built something a lot stronger than the first one. It’ll hold a while.”

They stared in silence some more. “Let us talk it out, Prince,” Steve finally said.

“Please, Steve. No formalities. I  _ have _ known you biblically.” And then Steve had the  _ audacity _ to blush at that. 

“I have an offer to make. I thought about this a lot, Steve, so just hear me out.” Tony took a deep breath and started.

“I don’t want to give up the crown. You do not want the crown and that is okay. But something has changed. I’m building the machine, the arc reactor as I called it, a lot faster than anticipated. Also I think it’s a lot more important than I guessed. I'm going back to the castle immediately after I finished it. There will be lots of negotiating, persuading my father into letting me distribute my invention, showing him it’s worth something. It will take time, effort. I would love for you to be at my side… I know you have your mission. You can operate under the Stark flag, you all can. No vigilantes, real knights. I … you know I do not want anyone else but you, Steve. I love you. Please consider it, before you say no.”

He finished his rant and looked at Steve who just kept staring at the wall. Seemingly unmoved by the speech.

“I think you forgot what we really do, Tony.” Steve took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "The money doesn't just magically appear." 

"Stealing money from Hydra is really no-" 

"It's not just Hydra we steal from." 

Some part of Tony knew that. Knew that 'the rich' were people like him. Maybe even him, if he were to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"You wouldn't need to steal anymore. Controlling tax-collectors, distributing wealth is-"

"Not what I want to do. I fled from the monarchy to get control back on my life. I don't want to fight under a flag, have to listen to anyone's orders except my own." 

Steve's breath was coming out ragged while he still stared at the wall. 

“You mean a lot to me, Tony,” and Tony knew exactly where this was going. “But...”

“ _ But, _ ” Tony laughed without meaning to. “But it is not enough for the Lord Rogers. I get it.”

“That is not what that meant, you know that. Do not talk to me like that.”

_ Like what _ , Tony wanted to say.  _ Like the Prince you are? _

“I just can’t. You’re … you are going to do great things, Tony, I can feel that. But I just cannot turn my back on these living, breathing people that need my help now. I need to be able to make my own decisions, not check in with whoever is in charge. And don't tell me I could be. I'm prince Rogers, someone will find out. I would have to go back... I would love being by your side but right now that’s just not possible. You lived here for almost two weeks, you must have seen the misery they are in.” And Tony had. He had seen the misery, the children dying and that's the reason he wants to go back so soon, change that in the future.

“Future”, Steve continued as if hearing Tony’s thoughts, “is a luxury most of them do not have. Not if we are not there to help them. You'll help in your ways and I in mine. Again, I thought a lot about what you said, about duty and responsibility. The Avengers have a route to finish, jobs that were already planned and towns which were already notified we would come… and after that there are more towns, more people. But maybe someday our paths will meet again.” 

They were quiet for a moment. “You are a good man, Steve.” He took Steve’s hand firmly, and Steve gripped back, twice as hard, as if Tony was his lifeline. As if he didn’t want to let go. Tony knew this feeling; he didn’t want to let go either. "Maybe someday when I'll be king. If you change your mind about the crown. ” 

He swallowed heavily. This was not a proposal, even if it was heavily implied. If Steve sensed something, he didn't show. 

“I will wait for you," Tony whispered. “I meant what I said. What you did was shit, and I am going to hate you for a while. There is no one else for me though, just you. If you ever decide differently, I will be there, waiting for you. I will wait for you forever.”

He stared at the other Prince, hoping he would understand. He needed him to understand how deeply Tony felt about him.

“If I ever come back to royalty, I’ll kneel down for you. I will make an honest man out of you.” Steve said it with such conviction that Tony almost believed him. Almost.

Tony laughed without humour while tears dared to slip out from his eyes. “Do not say shit like that to me, when you don’t mean it.”

“I do mean I—”

“Stop,” Tony pleaded. He didn’t want that hope. Didn’t need it. He knew Steve would never come back to him. _ Not enough, not enough, not enough _ , played in his head like a chant. If the Avengers moved on, Steve will find someone else. He was sure of that.

“I will stay another night. Let us talk in the morning?” Steve formed it like a question, which it obviously wasn’t. 

“No, I don’t-” Tony closed his eyes and in that moment he wished Steve would just stand up and walk away. Leave him here. His eyes stung, his head hurt and his limbs felt all wrong and clammy. 

Tony heard Steve trying to get his breathing under control. He was more affected by this than Tony would have thought. 

They sat in silence for a long while, still not touching except for their hands that still gripped each other tightly.

It had turned dark outside while they were talking and Tony didn’t bother with lighting the candles. Instead he turned his head just in time to see Steve turning his head as well, their lips meeting in the middle.

It was a blur after that. Vests went flying, shoes rolling, Tony’s linen shirt almost ripped at the force of Steve’s hands. The greedy hands roaming all over Tony’s body, making him moan with want. He tugged at Steve’s hair, pulling him away from his mouth just a second. Breathing the same air. He stared at Steve like that, inches apart, while quick efficient fingers undid Steve’s armour.

It was over quick, both of them too lost in the sensation, too frantic, too much of… everything.

They laid there in the moon glow, on the ground of the blacksmith shop where Tony woke up this morning. His head was on Steve’s chest feeling content just laying there, even though it was too cold and hay was sticking to him in places he didn’t need it.

“What’s with the kid?” Steve asked after a while.

Tony’s mind was already drifting off. “Oh, he's a great kid,” he mumbled into Steve’s chest. “He belongs to the Parker’s… it almost feels as if he’s mine already… s’nice.”

Steve arms wrapped tighter around his middle and he sighed contently until finally sleep engulfed him.

#  13.

Tony didn’t watch the Avengers leave.

Steve tried to talk to him about the crown, about royalty and the monarchy. They had a fundamentally different approach towards duty and patriotism, right now there was just no common ground. Although Tony felt that Steve definitely changed his mind about being a king. If only the circumstances were different. If Tony was king, if Steve wasn't a prince, just a knight. If both of them weren't princes, ...

It was almost tragic, in a way. They had the same goal, the same dream, they were in love, they had just met too early or too late; too … wrong. 

“And a rock feels no pain,'' he sniffles, “And an island neeeeever cries.”

A loud sigh interrupted his singing. “Tony, dear, please, your sadness makes it hard to think.” Pepper turned around to watch Tony sit in silence looking miserable. “And would you please stop eating lard from the bowl, it is truly disgusting.”

“Just let me wallow in my self-pity for I have lost the true love of my life barely two hours ago.”

“You have known him for two weeks.” She smiled as she said it, a quiet joke to make him feel better. 

“The best two weeks of my life,” Tony mumbled. She was right he admits, though he didn’t want to admit it. “Sometimes you just know. You see someone and you know it’s the one.”

“I do not know, Tony,” her smile became soft. “I do believe you though.” Her smile disappeared. “That doesn’t mean you can sulk all day and cry on my carpet!” she added after a second.

He focused again on his work, getting himself lost in it and only eating or drinking when Peter nudged at his pants, waving a cup or a slice of bread in his face. He talked a lot to Peter that day, mostly about his work but also about everything else that came to his mind, too. He even sang some of the songs he remembered Clint singing.

Peter loved those, clapping along, trying to stand up and even mumbling his own words to the melody. Ben thought it was all too cute, and secretly Tony did too but he would never admit it. Ben was great, too, listening to Tony mumble and pointing him in the right direction to do the actual work.

Another four days went by in a blur. During the day they had work directed by Mr. Parker for various knights and townsmen. In the night Tony could work on his own project. And that night, fifteen days after arriving in town, Tony finished it.

He lets the hammer sink down, lets out a shaky breath and falls down next to the anvil. It’s finally done. All of the anxiety, lack of sleep, stress and, now, an overbearing sense of relief crashed over him. 

He really did it. 

He finished the arc reactor 2. Not the one that belongs in his chest, no. This one sat in his hands, iron glistening in the light of the candles on the wall. So much potential resting here. A reactor he can use, one the whole world can use. Is going to use, if everything works accordingly. For now the thing was just a useless replica of the arc reactor in his chest. Once he got enough energy, it would work on his own. Far more powerful than anything men ever created. 

He had worked the whole night through, harder and faster than ever because he knew a big storm was coming in the early hours of the morning. It was already raining hard and the wind was blowing through the trees. Lightning and thunder were soon to follow, Tony figured. If he had more time, he would wait. Would test it some more. Ask Ben for help with the church tower. Albeit there was no time. Storms like this were rare for this area and waking Ben at his ungodly hour...

The arc reactor 2 was roughly the size of a loaf of bread, so Tony could fit it under his arms. It was pouring when he went outside and ran over to the church. 

The church tower was by far the highest building around. Whenever there are storms, lightning crashes into the highest singular point. He would need to hold the reactor over his head, over the spire of the church, when he reached the top. It seemed impossible now but he would deal with that later. 

When confronted with the big building on the main square, he looked up and then realized he didn’t know how to get to the church spire. It would be too hard and dangerous to climb that high without any help in the pouring rain and yet, for the sake of his realm he is willing to take that risk. If he gave up now, the whole fallout with Steve would have no meaning. If he gave up now, the realm will fall in financial ruin. Worst case: His father will die of a heart attack and his uncle Sir Stane and his faulty weapon ideas will reign the kingdom. He can’t let that happen.

He just needed a little energy, that’s all. The machine will work on its own after that and then the possibilities are endless. He can merge it with carriages to help them run and relieve the strain on horses. Maybe it could power them on its own someday. In miniature form, with the right tool, it could also create light. Tony hated the smell of candle wax, replacing them would be a great benefit.

Pulling all his courage together, he went around the church and started climbing the back of it. The Church was slippery from the rain and not at all meant to be climbed by man. Thunder roared around him but fortunately he didn’t see lightning yet. He didn’t want to miss it. It would take weeks before another storm would fall over these lands; this needs to be done tonight. 

After twenty minutes of struggle, he was soaking wet, his muscles were aching and the storm was picking up. He was almost at the top, just needed a few more inches to be higher than the church vane. He heard a crashing sound then bright light immediately followed by roaring thunder. The storm had to be exactly over the town. This was his moment. 

With all the strength he had left, he lifted the reactor high above his head, and waited. And waited. It was almost too much, the rain, the exertion, the hopes and dreams of a whole kingdom on his shoulder. With one blazing shout he lifted the reactor even higher and then he felt it. He felt it before he could see or hear it.

A force like he never felt before crashed through him. The arc reactor sprayed little blue sparks and his whole body felt on fire. His fingers cramped and he couldn’t hold on to the railing anymore. With the reactor clutched to his chest he tumbled down the church spire. Content he closed his eyes. He did it.

##  \---------

He awoke with a gasp, feeling like he died, came back to life, and then died again. This was becoming a habit, he thought. Near death experiences weren’t as fun as everyone thinks. He was in his room in the Parker’s house again, an angry looking Pepper towering over him. He was still in his armour, arc reactor clutched to his chest, quietly sizzling with energy.

Energy.

“I did it!” he exclaimed.

“You almost killed yourself is what you did. Again and—”

“No, Pepper. Listen, I did it! I finished the reactor, I can go home!”

Tony couldn’t stop smiling even as Peppers frown deepened. “Pepper, Honey, can’t you see? I captured energy. No one in all of the seven kingdoms have ever did that. This kingdom will be rich and prosperous again!” He took Peppers head in both hands and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “And there just opened a spot for you as my business advisor in my court. This is huge—” 

“Tony.”

“Honestly. I never imagined all of this to happen this quickly.”

“Tony!”

“Not that it was too quick, just—” 

“Prince Anthony Edward Stark would you listen for just one minute!”

He shut his mouth at Pepper’s sudden outburst and stared at her innocently. “You almost died again,  _ again _ , today. You are going to take a few days off and then we can talk about your great plan of going back to the castle and—” 

Loud neighing interrupted her train of thoughts, followed by screaming and metal clinking.

“Shit,“ Tony cursed. Either Bounty hunters or knights looking to take a few more taxes from the townspeople. Pepper looked at him, slightly appalled by his swearing. Tony ripped the neckerchief off her head and wrapped it around his reactor.

“Tony! What do you think you’re doing?”

“Take this,” he pushed the reactor into her hands, “and bring it to Ben to keep it safe. I will come and get you soon.”

“Tony, you just woke up, you cannot possibly think of going into battle? Without a plan of attack or a minute to think about everything?”

“I have a plan. It  _ is  _ attack,” Tony grinned devilishly and grabbed his sword from the corner of his room.

\------------

He arrived at Ben’s room, which was located at the back of the blacksmith shop, soaked in blood and sweat holding a crying Peter on his arm. When Ben opened the door, Tony fell to his knees, sword clinking as it fell to the ground.

“They died,'' he choked out.

“What— who?” Ben took the bawling Peter from him as Pepper helped the Prince inside. Tony had to focus. Breathless he leaned against the wall for support. He saw Peter calming down as Ben shushed and rocked him gently. Pepper pressed a glass of water into his hands, and urged him to explain what happened. He needed to take in all of the awful things he saw and push his energy helping Peter. To get back to the castle. To do a lot of other things, but first he needed to explain.

“We don’t have much time,'' he began. “The Parkers died. My parents are dead too— we need… we need to go to the castle. I need to become …  _ king _ .”

Outside there were still horses neighing, metal clinking together and men shouting orders. Bounty Hunters were searching the town for him, storming people’s houses, invading their shops. Inside Peter was still bawling and screaming for his parents. It made Tony’s ears ring, his head hurt and he could barely focus on the task at hand. 

Pepper and Ben gaped at him and Tony could feel that they didn’t believe him.

“King?!” they screamed in his face.

They didn’t  _ want _ to believe him but he needed to get them to understand. “Bounty hunters came looking for my head.”

Everything happened in a blur. One moment he was still waking up, the next he saw pamphlets with his face all over the town.  _ Dead or alive _ , it said. The King and Queen died, his uncle was named responsible for their deaths - by Jarvis, Tony thought - and thrown in the dungeon. Tony’s sins would be forgiven if he were to head back to the castle. Every bounty hunter was looking for his head, wanting to eliminate him, so that their employer could have a shot at being king.

He needed to go back and fix this, but he cannot leave without his friends. “You are not safe here,” he told them, “you know me, know where I’m going. We  _ all  _ need to leave.” They knew what he meant. He didn’t want to leave Peter behind.

“Ben, fetch the carriage we prepared with my machine. Pepper do you have the reactor? Good, I’ll activate it as soon as we’re finished.”

“It’s untested, Tony!”

“Do I look like I have the time to run a few tests? Pepper you go and get your and Peter’s things. I’ll set up the reactor and get the horses. We meet at the carriage in ten.”

It worked surprisingly well. The Parker’s carriage stood in the backyard of the shop. Tony activated the reactor at the carriage and it seemed to get the carriage moving the way it's supposed to. This way they would have horsepower and power from the machine as well.

Pepper came first, hoisting Peter into the carriage, after stowing their luggage in the back. Ben came second, a leather cloth draped over his head, looking like a hangman. He looked ridiculous when he tried to haul himself up at the front of the carriage. 

Tony laughed, despite the disturbing situation and got into the wagon behind Ben. 

At once, Ben went off heading east toward the castle. Peter was fast asleep in Tony’s arms, exhausted from all the crying and the shock. Tony didn’t know what to tell him when he woke up, glad he could postpone it in the morning. After all, he had some sleeping and thinking to do.

\------

The ride back to the castle was rocky and uncomfortable, not at all in the way Tony was accustomed to. Peter was drooling on his vest, mumbling nonsense in his sleep 

After a few hours of resting, Tony laid Peter on Pepper’s lap and scrambled to the front of the carriage next to Ben. 

"I can hold the reins for a few hours, so you can rest in the back." 

Ben looked exhausted, the bags underneath his eyes stick out in black against his pale white skin. Little white puffs of cold air are coming out of his mouth as he said: “It’s okay, Prince, it’s just about an hour until we reach the castle.” 

“How do you know the way to the castle anyways?”

“The Parkers--” Ben choked on the name, it was only yesterday when the Parkers were murdered. “--  _ I  _ came around when looking for new materials and ideas,” Ben finished simply. 

Tony nodded. “I’m glad I ran away, even if it was only for a little while,” he said after some time. He’d like to avoid the topic of the Parkers for now. “Thank you for showing me around, I... learned a lot. In the town, with the, uhm, Avengers, it changed my mind in so many ways.” 

They sat in silence for a while then, Tony taking the reins from Ben when his eyes began slipping For the first time in a while, his thoughts settled on Steve again. Tony planned on going back to the castle as soon as possible but he didn’t think he would need to be king for at least another twenty years.The Avengers could be anywhere by now, but word travels fast, at least Natasha will know of his story by the end of tomorrow. He wonders what Steve will think, what he will say, what… 

A loud cry startled him out of his thoughts, he looked over to Ben but he kept on sleeping. Apparently, Peter woke up. He heard Pepper shushing him, heard Peter asking about his parents, about Tony, … 

_ His parents _ . Peters parents died in front of his eyes, although he doesn’t know how much Peter had really seen, as Tony had tried to protect him. Now, Tony’s own parents were dead too, but he had the mercy of not knowing when and how. Had the mercy of not seeing it. He leaned his head back against the carriage and listened to the soft rumble of Pepper’s voice, explaining to Peter that his parents are gone to another place, and he can’t see them anymore. He listened like it was Pepper telling him about his own parents, like he was that scared four year old, now faced with the reality of never seeing his parents again. 

After a while, Ben opened his eyes again, confused as to why he was sleeping and motioned for Tony to get back to Peter. It was only a couple of minutes before they should arrive at the castle. Tony opened the flap connecting the front of the carriage and the back and slipped back to Pepper and Peter. Upon seeing him, Peter threw himself at Tony crying out his name. 

“Hey there, don’t worry. I’m here, sh..sh...” 

There was a trickle of panic in his voice, he was definitely not ready to look after a small boy that had just lost his parents, when he was, deep inside, also another frightened boy. Pepper smiled at him with encouragement, but there was a sadness in her eyes. They all lost people they loved yesterday. 

Peters little hand clung to his shirt, while he nuzzled his head into Tony’s neck. Tony held onto him, while he pushed back the drapes to look outside. They just passed the guards on the outside of the castle. Tony had no idea how Ben did that. Impressed, he leaned back again and absently stroked his fingers through Peter’s hair. Despite all the troubles, despite all the misery they’ve been through, Tony was glad he was coming home, to see Jarvis again. 

Sighing, he closed his eyes, enjoying the silence before the big storm was coming. 

#  14.

It was the same room in which his father yelled at him for the last time. He remembered it distinctly, yet it seemed like a lifetime ago. His father had called his invention blasphemy, while his mother sat nearby with her soulless eyes. Looking at him but not really  _ looking _ . A lump formed itself in his throat. He closed his eyes for a minute indulging in the memory of his parents. One always remembered the dead better than when they were living but he didn’t care about that. He just wanted to feel his father's presence one more time.

Peter giggled from where he sat with Ben and Pepper in the front row. Tony opened his eyes and gave him a small smile and wave. He hoped he would be better as1 a father. He prayed to god every day that he would give him the strength and the patience he needed. Sometimes he wished Steve was there next to him. Beautiful, warm, lovely Steve smiling at him. Kissing Pete’s head. Taking his hand and reading out to him.

He turned to Jarvis next to him, looking at him for a long moment. He changed a lot during the time Tony was gone. His face was nothing but wrinkles, but Tony still found the same warmth in them as always. He was so glad to have him at his side. Glad that Peter has someone like Jarvis to watch over him when Tony got too fidgety.

The knights stood proudly, Rhodey up front smiling widely at him. He was glad he had Rhodey back, too. Rhodey, who freaked out when he learned that Tony had adopted a little boy, but who didn’t doubt for a second that Tony could do it. That Tony could do it alone and even as all over the place as he was.

He had new friends too, Tony thought. All this time he always thought he was going to be alone, that he wasn’t good at making friends and keeping them. And here he was, at his coronation and his newfound friends smiling up at him. He winked at Pepper, mouthing “I did it” and she laughed quietly.

A murmur went through the room when the priest entered. The crown glistened in the sun that shone through the big windows. Red and gold. The Stark Colours.

Tony couldn’t believe his luck. Couldn’t believe he had the privilege and the chance to change a million peoples lives, with friends by his side and his kid. And— 

Suddenly the big doors slammed open and the priest almost dropped the crown in surprise. Tony stifled a laugh, the knights who were to guard the door laid flat on the ground, like they were sleeping. Tony only knew one other soul beside himself who could pull off such a trick. The knights pulled their swords and got ready to fight but Tony already smiled so wide his cheeks were aching. “Stand down, knights,'' he told them. There were some confused looks and the priest looked more angry than anything but Tony didn’t care.

Because in the doorway stood Hawkeye, in his bard outfit, with his lyre in hand. Next to him Bucky in a weirdly similar bard outfit and a pan flute clutched to his chest. They began playing and Tony laughed out loud when Thor came around the corner, his two wooden spoons hitting a wooden plank, making a great beat. Natasha and Bruce followed, hitting different kinds of planks with wooden rods.

Tony shook giddy with excitement. He hoped and hoped and hoped that maybe … maybe— 

And there he was. Dressed like a prince in red, white and blue. The colours of House Rogers. He was shaved, but looked fine as ever. He smiled shyly, almost embarrassed. Tony hoped to God that he was here for commitment and not just to make a big show.

_ “Well I came home, like stone. And I fell hea-a-vy into your arms.”  _ Steve began to sing. It wasn’t great or beautiful but one could tell that he practiced it and that it came from the heart. His voice filled up the whole room, making people gasp. The priest was at Tony’s side now, looking at Steve angrily but Tony ignored him. Like he ignored the whole room except for that one person.

_ “But I’ll kneel down wait for now.” _

There were tears in the corner of his eyes and he clasped a hand in front of his mouth to stop him from crying out. Steve came down the same isle the priest did earlier, all while staring at him, a small smile playing on his lips.

_ “I will wait, I will wait for you, _ ” Steve sung two times before the music stopped.

“You said you’d wait for me forever,” Steve started slowly. “I hope forever still includes now?” He formed the statement like a question. Tony didn’t trust his voice so he just nodded vigorously.

Steve smiled and he saw tears prickling in the corner of the Captain’s – no the Prince's eyes. He pressed his lips into a thin line and kneeled down in front of Tony. “ _ And I told you I’d kneel down for you. _ ” Steve looked up and Tony stared into his deep blue eyes. Eyes that shone of light and hope and happiness and he hoped Steve knew of Peter and— 

_ “I promise I will be bold, as well as strong. And use my head alongside my heart. So take my flesh and fix my eyes. A tethered mind free from my lies.  _ I kneeled down for you. I came home for you.”

Tony wiped some tears from his eyes, as Steve did the same. 

“Will you, Prince Stark, do me, Prince Rogers,” a murmur fell through the room again, “the honour of becoming my lawfully wedded husband? My king?” Mostly gasps and whispers of ‘THE Prince Rogers?’ went through the room.

Tony stood completely still, not quite understanding why this was happening now. Did Captain Steve Rogers, fearless leader of the Avengers, hater of the monarchy, just propose to him in the middle of his coronation?

“Yes”, Tony heard himself whisper. Then again, louder: “Yes, of course, a thousand times yes!”

Steve leaped up from his knees and caught Tony around the middle, swirling him around. He heard the Avengers whoops, could hear Peppers shouts of approval and Peter’s excited clapping, somewhere far, far away. Steve set him down again and now the rest of the people started clapping and whooping. Except for the priest, who just looked mildly annoyed.

Tony didn’t care.  _ Now _ , he had everything, a son, friends, and the love of his life, whom he waited for, and will now have forever.

#  Epilogue:

Peters little feet patterned on the stony floor. Tony could hear him before he saw him, always. He and his husband were enjoying their day off in bed, sleeping in like they can only do so rarely. Tony was reading a book, while Steve was still trying to sleep. Like a whirlwind, Peter ran into Steve’s and Tony’s bedchambers, making vague sounds while doing so.

“Vhoooosh,” Peter laughed while he jumped onto their bed.

“Ooof, Petey, you’re getting too heavy to be jumping on your old man like that.”

Steve let out a deep, sleepy laugh next to him. His face was still buried deep into the cushions, not wanting to wake up yet. Tony stroked a hand through his husband’s hair, ruffling it a bit. “Don’t talk too loud, Petey, you father is a sleepy head.”

Steve had just come back from a three week mission supervising the tax collectors in their two realms and he was exhausted, though Tony knew that Steve never minded Peter crowding their space. Even when he was feeling worn out in the worst way. 

Peter ignored him and crawled into the little space between him and Steve. “What are you reading, Da?” He motioned to the well worn book Tony was reading. Steve pencilled the cover years ago and Tony read it almost every day. On many other days he would sometimes just stare at the beautiful cover.

“It is a book about myths. The one your Uncle Thor wrote. Do you want to listen to my favourite story?”

Peter smiled at him, all wide eyes and open mouth. “Yes!” he exclaimed, “Of course!”

He settled himself into Tony’s side, and the King put an arm around him, the other holding the book. Steve put a sleepy arm on Peters lap, just laying it there to be part of their little morning.

“These are the mighty tales of the Avengers…”


End file.
